Robotaxi. No steering wheel or pedals!

[HemiEd]

We have several electric car threads, but this is bye week and the first time I have noticed no steering wheel or pedals. Just wow.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the highly anticipated robotaxi last night, a driverless, $30K vehicle called the Cybercab. Tesla says the car—which lacks pedals and steering wheels—will go into production by 2027. The company also debuted a 20-person robovan and touted its Optimus robots.



The debut is almost a decade in the making and comes amid a series of lawsuits and investigations over Tesla's supervised driving vehicles. The company's investors hope robotaxis will generate almost 90% of Tesla's value and earnings by 2029. This would involve drivers being able to rent their vehicle through an app when not in use, earning passive income in a "part Uber, part Airbnb" model. Tesla hopes electric vehicle sales will eventually account for only 9% of Tesla's value.



Tesla is not the first company to pursue this model; Google’s Waymo already services 100,000 paid rides per week, including in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix. Amazon's Zoox is coming soon to San Francisco.

[vonBobo]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

I like the idea of its use at airports. Actually saw a guy get into a Waymo at Sky Harbor the other day and it did kind of feel like a movie

I also like the idea of an automated ride where you can control the internal climate. My biggest gripe with cabs and rideshares, especially to/from airports, is the aggressive driving and its always stuffy af in the vehicle or their bundle of Black Ice air fresheners are burning your nostrils, or they want to talk, etc

Uber does all of this now for more expensive rides. If you don't want to tell your driver to shut up in person you can just set your preferences in the app and it will tell the driver to shut up for you.