Tesla is building a robotaxi, according to company CEO Elon Musk.
The self-driving vehicle will apparently make its debut this August, according to a short post published Friday, April 5, by the Tesla chief on social media platform X. While details on the model are scarce, the company has long leveraged promises of a potential robotaxi to stoke interest from investors, promising to establish competition with the current top autonomous vehicle services in North America: Waymo, owned by Google, and Cruise, owned by General Motors.
Musk’s brief announcement came the same day as a Reuters report claiming the company had canceled plans to build a $25,000 electric vehicle, the Model 2. Citing anonymous sources, the media platform alleged that Tesla would use the “same small-vehicle platform” originally intended for the supposed affordable car to manufacture robotaxis instead. In a separate social media post, the billionaire tech entrepreneur denied the report, simply writing, “Reuters is lying (again),” but declined to clarify what details in the article were incorrect.
It is unclear whether the Reuters report influenced Musk’s decision to establish an official timeline for the robotaxi’s launch. However, the announcement comes at a critical point in Tesla’s history. The company’s most recent quarterly deliveries report revealed a notable decline in volume, the first in several years, reflecting a global stagnation in electric vehicle sales growth. Combined with the rapid deterioration in its stock value, the tech-focused brand desperately needs an innovative product to restore confidence in its future.
While the self-driving car market has struggled to expand under increasing regulatory pressures, much of which has been focused on Cruise, Tesla’s previous experiences with computer-assisted driving obtained through the development of its FSD and Autopilot services does give credence to Musk’s claim. But whether the robotaxi will be the proverbial magic bullet to the brand’s difficulties or a repeat of the somewhat bewildering story of the Cybertruck remains to be seen.
