Elon Musk says Tesla robotaxi will be like a combo of Airbnb and Uber
Summary
Tesla plans to operate its own fleet of self-driving taxis. Owners would be able to “add or subtract their cars from the fleet whenever they want” and “they can decide if they want to only let the car be used by friends and family, or only by five-star users or by anyone”.
Usually when you buy a car, either you drive it or you rent it out to a ride-hailing company, you don’t get to do both. Electric vehicle maker Tesla now plans to enable its customers with both choices soon with its robotaxi.
“Tesla will be some combination of Airbnb and Uber,” Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk said on April 23 in a conference call with investors after the company’s results for the January to March 2023 period.
Explaining the concept, he said there will be some cars owned by Tesla and some owned by an end user who will choose when their car can be used. “At any time, they can have the car come back to them, like Airbnb for cars….,” he said.
Musk’s comments come days after he announced Tesla plans to unveil its long-promised robotaxi on August 8 this year amid weak sales and competition from cheap Chinese EVs.
Tesla plans to operate its own fleet of self-driving taxis. Owners would be able to “add or subtract their cars from the fleet whenever they want” and “they can decide if they want to only let the car be used by friends and family, or only by five-star users or by anyone”, he explained.
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The electric carmaker also shared a preview of what the ride-hailing app service would look like once integrated into the Tesla app.
Preview of autonomous ride-hailing via Tesla app pic.twitter.com/GPs5itjA84
— Tesla (@Tesla) April 23, 2024
A fully autonomous vehicle, pitched to investors in 2019, has long been key to Tesla’s lofty valuation. In recent weeks, Tesla has rolled out the latest version of the driver-assistance software that it markets as FSD, or Full Self-Driving, to consumers.
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When asked about the pathway to regulatory approval for unsupervised FSD in the United States, he said, “Other autonomous driving companies are also working with regulators. The safety numbers are going to be hard to ignore. I don’t think there will be significant regulatory barriers if we can prove the safety data is there.”
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