Elon Musk took advantage of the opening of the Texas Gigafactory to announce that, starting next year, Tesla will start the design of three new vehicles. The manager also mentioned that among the future proposals is a car designed to work like a robotaxiaccording to the agency Associated Press.
Unfortunately, Elon Musk only said that the design of the vehicle it will look futuristic, but no more. At this point it is important to say that, when it comes to anticipating news in the medium and long term about Tesla, the promises of its director are not always kept. The issue of fully autonomous cars is the best proof of this.
In any case, it is interesting to know that the electric carmaker intends to explore other sectors of mobility. The robotaxis, without a doubt, is attracting the attention of more and more companies, as it is a fact that it will be an important pillar for transport in the coming years.
Eye, that Tesla intends to design a robotaxi does not necessarily mean that they plan to operate their own transportation business. If it becomes a reality, they may only offer their proposal to companies interested in buying fleets. There is even a second option that is even more ambitious.
Elon Musk’s master plan
In the second part of Master plan of Elon Musk regarding Tesla, the last point specifies the mission of allow a car to generate money when not in use. That is, that the owners charge a fee so that others can be transported in it. Thus, offering a model capable of functioning as a robotaxi would be a key step in fulfilling that mission.
Now, before thinking about a robotaxi, Tesla knows very well that you need to step on the accelerator with the advances of the Autopilot, which is still in beta. In fact, the previous point of the master plan mentions the following: “Develop an autonomous driving system that is 10 times safer than manual driving.” Although they are clearly the most advanced in the sector, they still have work to do to fulfill their purpose.
Even with fully autonomous driving a reality, Tesla and many other manufacturers face another drawback. Last March, Elon Musk said that these systems could cause huge traffic jams. Of course, a traffic jam situation caused by a greater number of autonomous vehicles on the roads is not the same as one caused by the bad practices of human drivers.