Tesla launches Cybercab robotaxi in Austin – Musk stays away

Elon Musk often reserves the right to claim the stage for himself at important moments for his companies. And he had been drumming up a lot of advertising ahead of an event to introduce Tesla's new autonomous “Cybercabs” in Austin, Texas. On Platform X, he promised a “storm of cybercabs” and a “golden era of transportation.” However, he wasn't even there in Austin; some other Tesla management representatives spoke in his place. And the event took place largely behind closed doors. It was primarily reserved for a group of influencers; traditional media were not invited.

The Cybercab embodies Musk's vision of autonomous driving. The gold-colored car with gullwing doors has no steering wheel or pedals, and Musk has said it will represent the majority of Tesla's total production in the long term. Musk first introduced it almost two years ago, production began in recent months, and now Tesla is using it for the first time as a robotaxi to transport passengers.

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Use in a “limited area”

This will initially happen on a very manageable scale: The cybercabs will initially be available in a “limited area” in Austin, and Tesla has so far registered 45 of them for use as robotaxis with the relevant Texas authorities. They join a fleet of self-driving versions of Tesla's Model Y that have been driving around the city since last year. Anyone who orders a ride in Austin using Tesla's Robotaxi app will receive either a Cybercab or an autonomous Model Y from Tesla.

The event in Austin has been highly anticipated. Musk has been trying for some time to steer the public's attention away from Tesla's traditional core business of electric cars and towards robotaxis and humanoid robots. He describes these areas as significantly more promising. He has been making big promises for years, especially with regard to autonomous driving. As early as 2019, he announced that Tesla would have a million robotaxis on the road the following year. The company is still a long way from that today.

When Musk first introduced the Cybercab two years ago, he said it would be used both as a robotaxi and sold to end users. He promised a retail price of less than $30,000, which would be cheaper than all previous Tesla models. However, there are still regulatory hurdles for sales to private customers. First of all, Tesla will use its Cybercabs for its own robotaxi fleet, but apparently the company is also interested in offering them to other fleet operators. Tesla posted a form on its website where people can express interest in purchasing a “Cybercab fleet.”

The cybercabs operate autonomously, but are still under human supervision in a control center. The Model Y vehicles that were converted into robotaxis initially had safety drivers behind the wheel. Tesla has expanded the tests with these robotaxis to several other American cities in recent months. However, all of these tests have so far been limited to manageable fleets of vehicles. Otherwise, Tesla has been offering driving assistance systems for years that do not enable fully autonomous driving, even if they are marketed very aggressively. On the one hand, there is the “Autopilot” function installed as standard in all new cars, and on the other hand, there is the technically more complex and chargeable “Full Self-Driving” system.

Lots of competition in the market

Tesla faces tough competition in autonomous driving. Waymo, a sister company of the Internet company Google in the Alphabet holding, already operates a fleet of around 4,000 robotaxis that operate without a driver, although unlike the Cybercab they still have a steering wheel. The company is already present in more than a dozen American cities and has also announced expansion into foreign markets such as London and Tokyo. It was only in August that it announced that it would soon begin testing in Munich.

Tesla and Waymo are taking very different approaches. Tesla only uses cameras and artificial intelligence to record the surroundings of its cars, Waymo and other competitors also use radar technology and so-called lidar sensors. Tesla argues that its technology is much cheaper and can be scaled up to a large fleet very quickly. Waymo, on the other hand, describes its technology as superior. The company recently differentiated itself from its competitor in a blog entry and wrote, without directly naming it: “Cameras are incredible, but they are not sufficient.”

Tesla's share price fell by more than two percent during trading on Friday. It has recently been on the rise again after a period of weakness; it has risen by more than 20 percent since the end of July. Overall, the company is valued on the stock market at almost $1.2 trillion.

Speculation has recently increased that Tesla could be merged with SpaceX, the space company from Musk's empire that has also been listed on the stock exchange for a few months. Musk did not rule this out when presenting business results in July and pointed out that Tesla and SpaceX were already working together in many areas.