For a decade, Elon Musk has promoted the idea that one day Tesla Cars will drive themselves as robotaxis. Next week the company will unveil the design of its autonomous cabins.
Despite years of bold predictions and missed deadlines, the company's fans are hoping Musk will finally deliver at an event on October 10. Regardless of what the company presents at its Robotaxi Day, experts are skeptical of the company's strategy, pointing to Autopilot and FSD technology as a barometer of Tesla's progress or lack thereof.
In the decade that Musk promised self-driving vehicles, competitors have been making them.
alphabetCompany-owned Waymo already operates a commercial robotaxi service in several U.S. cities and delivered more than 100,000 paid rides per week in August. AmazonThe company's Zoox began testing rides for employees in February 2023, with the goal of launching its own robotaxi service. In China, Pony.ai and Baidu also operate commercial robotaxi services.
The market could be lucrative. In an optimistic estimate, Raymond James predicts annual robotaxi bookings will reach $50 billion by 2030.
With electric vehicle sales growth slowing in the U.S., much depends on whether Tesla might pivot to autonomy.
Watch the video to see the path Tesla took to realize its robotaxi ambitions.
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