Elon Musk announced Tesla’s future in terms of robotaxis and C3PO-type home robots during a special event last night broadcast on X. One highlight of the event was the robovan, which can seat up to 20 passengers, and can be adapted to commercial or personal use such as a school bus, RV, or cargo van.
Robotaxis are not new to the scene. Companies such as Uber and Amazon have already unveiled visions for driverless taxis. Uber recently announced it was partnering with GM to deploy driverless robotaxis in 2025. While Amazon-owned Zoox unveiled its own futuristic autonomous electric robotaxi back in 2020. Now, Musk-owned Tesla has unveiled its own vision for the future in terms of driverless taxis with its Cybercab and Robovan.
Musk made his appearance at the event via a Cybercab, which features a Cybertruck-like bar in the front, scissor-like doors, and the absence of a steering wheel or pedals. The entrepreneur stated he hopes to have the Cybercab in production before 2027, but did not divulge any specific dates as to when the cars will be manufactured. As for pricing, the billionaire touted the robotaxis would come with a price tag under $30,000.
While the feeling amongst the crowd at the live event might have been electric, stock holder sentiment did not seem to hold the same excitement. Tesla shares dropped 8% overnight, with analysts such as Barclay stating the “event was light on details.” Barclays added what seemed to be missing from the event, remarking, “Tesla didn’t show its low-cost model planned for 1H’25 production. We also didn’t get any near term updates on FSD progress, or data reflecting improvement in the system.”
While new Tesla models were not revealed during the event, Musk did mention a bit of news about the upcoming models. He remarked, “We do expect actually to start fully autonomous, unsupervised FSD in Texas and California next year.” He then added, “And that’s obviously… that’s the Model 3 and Model Y.”
Robotaxis were not the only thing shown at the event. An army of humanoid Optimus robots also appeared, walking out onto the stage alongside the reveal of the Robovan.
“The Optimus will walk amongst you,” remarked Musk. “You’ll be able to walk right up to them, and they will serve drinks.” He went on to add, “I think this will be the biggest product ever of any kind.”
Following the unveil, livestream footage was shown of people interacting with the humanoid robots at tables, and in crowds. The robots did not show off any drink mixing skills, however, instead they simply waved, held cups of ice, handed out gift bags, and played rock, paper, scissors with guests.
While specific dates were not revealed in regard to the Cybercab and Robovan, Musk did remark, “And then we expect to be in production with the Cybercab, which is really highly optimized for autonomous transport, in probably… well, I tend to be a little optimistic with time frames, but in 2026. So, yeah. Before 2027, let me put it that way.”