Make your robotaxi predictions for the 8/8 reveal

So Elon says that Tesla will reveal a dedicated robotaxi vehicle on 8/8. What do you think we will see? Will it look like this concept art or something else?

I will say that while this concept drawing looks super cool, I am a bit skeptical if it is practical as a robotaxi. It looks to only have 2 seats which would be fine for 1-2 people who need a ride but would not work for more than 2 people. I feel like that would limit the robotaxis value for a lot of people. Also, it would likely need a steering wheel and pedals for regulatory reasons even if Tesla did achieve eyes-off capability.

So I think this is concept art for a hypothetical 2 seater, cheap Tesla, not a robotaxi.

Could the robotaxi look more like this concept art but smaller? It could look a bit more like say the Zoox vehicle or the Cruise Origin, more futuristic box like shape IMO and seat 5-6 people.

Or maybe the robotaxi will look more like the "model 2" concept:

Other questions:
- Will the robotaxis be available to own by individuals as a personal car or will it strictly be owned by Tesla and only used in a ride-hailing network?
- What will cost be?
- Will it have upgraded hardware? Radar? Lidar? additional compute?
- Will Elon reveal any details on how the ride-hailing network will work?

Thoughts? Let the fun speculation begin!

 

[aataskin]

Hmm...I doubt they need thousands of LiDAR test cars.

Maybe they anticipate some governments requiring Robotaxis to have a secondary backup driving system.

Pretty sure this is how they will sell this ;-)

 

[ThomasD]

They need something that is easy for People and Families to get in and out of. Also it should be able to accommodate Car Seats and People with Disabilities.

 

[enemji]

So Elon says that Tesla will reveal a dedicated robotaxi vehicle on 8/8. What do you think we will see? Will it look like this concept art or something else?

I will say that while this concept drawing looks super cool, I am a bit skeptical if it is practical as a robotaxi. It looks to only have 2 seats which would be fine for 1-2 people who need a ride but would not work for more than 2 people. I feel like that would limit the robotaxis value for a lot of people. Also, it would likely need a steering wheel and pedals for regulatory reasons even if Tesla did achieve eyes-off capability.

So I think this is concept art for a hypothetical 2 seater, cheap Tesla, not a robotaxi.

Could the robotaxi look more like this concept art but smaller? It could look a bit more like say the Zoox vehicle or the Cruise Origin, more futuristic box like shape IMO and seat 5-6 people.

Or maybe the robotaxi will look more like the "model 2" concept:

Other questions:
- Will the robotaxis be available to own by individuals as a personal car or will it strictly be owned by Tesla and only used in a ride-hailing network?
- What will cost be?
- Will it have upgraded hardware? Radar? Lidar? additional compute?
- Will Elon reveal any details on how the ride-hailing network will work?

Thoughts? Let the fun speculation begin!

It would/should be a big breadbox to accommodate all types of passengers

 

[DrChaos]

Hmm...I doubt they need thousands of LiDAR test cars.

They could need hundreds of test cars, each with 4-6 lidars in all directions.

Maybe they anticipate some governments requiring Robotaxis to have a secondary backup driving system.

 

[mswlogo]

It will be a model 3. Since cost doesn’t matter. He doesn’t have the resources to startup a new line.

The whole presentation will be ai generated.

It will be a flop project.

Would you get in one? And let it drive 70mph on the highway. No freaking way. 6years in and FSD still wants to drive straight into the Jersey barrier divider. Not one ounce of improvement.

It might be safe enough in inner city driving. But will struggle with parking and heavy traffic jams. And make traffic jams worse. How will it do when a construction worker or police wave the traffic to go into the temporary oncoming lane. It will be laughable. It will sit there and refuse to go.

 

[RDoc]

Actually I've no doubt Elon will announce a completely autonomous robotaxi without a steering wheel or any other controls in August.
Just like he announced the new Tesla Roadster in November 2017 and started taking deposits soon after.

 

[JulienW]

Actually I've no doubt Elon will announce a completely autonomous robotaxi without a steering wheel or any other controls in August.
Just like he announced the new Tesla Roadster in November 2017 and started taking deposits soon after.

Taking deposits on rides??? Tesla is going to operate a RT service.

 

[BBTX]

My prediction: Whatever robo-vehicle they show on 8/8 will be a one-off prototype at best, with mass manufacturing predicted for "next year". They will spec it to have HW5 and more cameras, but no Lidar and no steering wheel. I also think they're gunning hard to have at least an early-access release of some kind of FSDU available by 8/8, possibly as L4-ish behavior restricted to highways and L3-ish on city streets, so that at least a few youtubers can talk about how the software part is "solved", but who knows if they'll actually make the software timeline.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

but who knows

I know.

 

[spacecoin]

I know.

Me too.

 

[RDoc]

Taking deposits on rides??? Tesla is going to operate a RT service.

Good point. The obvious answer is Tesla will offer a subscription service, say $99/month for unlimited rides in every city where Tesla Robo Cabs operate.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Me too.

Yeah. We see Waymo struggling mightily to get anything working.

And Tesla, with virtually zero experience in this application, is going to get it done in three months???

Such a success would beggar the imagination!

 

[RDoc]

Yeah. We see Waymo struggling mightily to get anything working.

And Tesla, with virtually zero experience in this application, is going to get it done in three months???

Such a success would beggar the imagination!

Well not exactly. They're going to announce it in 3 months.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Well not exactly. They're going to announce it in 3 months.

I’m speaking to the claims above which suggest more will come 8/8. If Elon comes out with a reasonable six-year 2030 plan for limited Robotaxis, that seems like a good aspirational goal.

Extremely ambitious, but seems like a timeline an engineering team could work with and develop a plan for, if the technology breakthroughs pan out.

Example claim (this is obviously not happening!):

early-access release of some kind of FSDU available by 8/8,