Elon Musk is returning to his old stomping ground of LA to lift the lid on Tesla’s Cybercab. In true Hollywood style, the long-awaited reveal is happening on the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank. Here’s what you need to know.
In April 2019 at a Tesla event called ‘Autonomy Day,’ Musk took to the stage in California and made a bold, unrealistic statement.
“From our standpoint, if you fast forward a year, maybe a year and three months – but next year for sure – we will have over a million robotaxis on the road,” Musk said. “The fleet wakes up with an over-the-air update, that’s all it takes.”
Five years later, we are yet to see an official unveiling of a Tesla robotaxi. But that all may change on Friday during Tesla’s ‘We, Robot’ event, due to start 1pm AEDT.
Much has changed since Q2 2019 – we lived through a global pandemic, watched Musk buy and dismantle X, lean heavily into US politics, and fight with Australia’s eSafety board about overregulation.
But, according to US analysts, Musk’s bold vision for a fleet of robotaxis is imminent. Dan Ives is the managing director of Wedbush Securities and will be attending the ‘We, Robot’ event on the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank, California.
The analyst perspective
“Tomorrow Tesla will be hosting its long-awaited Robotaxi event kicking off at 10pm EST [7pm Pacific time ] in LA which we will be attending live for this historic event. We continue to believe AI/ FSD [full self driving] represents $1 trillion of value alone for Tesla over the coming years … big day ahead,” Ives says.
Wedbush raised its expectation for Tesla stock from US$275 to US$300 in July of this year. Ives is known to be a Tesla bull and says the stock could reach US$400 next year. It is currently below the US$275 expectation.
Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu says the robotaxi could contribute US$4 billion in sales to Tesla. Additionally, the company can monetise licensing the FSD technology.
Tesla’s ‘We Robot’ day was scheduled for August but was delayed. Musk tweeted that the reveal would be “one for the history books.”
Some reports over recent days suggest the Cybercab will sport vertically-opening doors and two seats. Other reports say Tesla is not close to having a fully-functioning robotaxi.
“There’s one big problem. Tesla doesn’t have a robotaxi system. It’s not even close,” Brad Templeton, who worked for autonomous vehicle competitor Waymo, writes for Forbes.
Australian viewers can watch the livestream of the Hollywood event here.
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