Elon Musk has announced that Tesla will unveil its purpose-built “robotaxi” prototype at an event on October 10, following a delay from the original August 8 date.
This announcement was made during Tesla’s second-quarter earnings call. Bloomberg reported that the delay was due to Musk’s desire to redesign elements of the prototype. Earlier this month, Musk stated that he had requested an “important design change to the front” of the robotaxi. He explained, “Moving it back a few months allowed us to improve the robotaxi, as well as add in a couple other things for the product unveil.”
The Tesla robotaxi, powered by an “unsupervised” full self-driving software, is central to Tesla’s vision for the future. Musk has been reorienting the company towards developing AI-powered products, including a significant push towards autonomous driving. This shift led to layoffs of over 10% of Tesla’s global staff earlier this year to realign the company’s focus.
However, Tesla’s AI ambitions are clashing with its current primary profit source—selling electric vehicles (EVs). Tesla reported a second-quarter profit of $1.5 billion for 2024, a 45% decrease from the same period last year. This profit was buoyed by a record $890 million in regulatory credit sales, offset by a $622 million restructuring charge. Despite a 2% year-over-year increase in total revenues, automotive revenues fell 7% to $19.9 billion.
The second quarter’s financial performance followed a difficult start to the year, with a 55% year-over-year drop in profit in the first quarter. Tesla now faces the possibility of selling fewer EVs in 2024 than in 2023, a surprising reversal from its previous growth trajectory. Tesla has attempted to manage investor expectations by suggesting the company is between “two major growth waves,” with hopes pinned on the new, yet controversial and pricey, Cybertruck and other future models that might be more affordable.
Despite these challenges, Musk emphasized that Tesla’s long-term value lies in autonomy. He highlighted this on the earnings call, noting that Tesla’s future includes the humanoid robot project, Optimus, which also faced a delay this week. Central to this vision is Musk’s ongoing promise of fully self-driving cars, a goal he has yet to achieve.
Musk urged investors to focus on the upcoming October 10 event, where more details about the robotaxi will be revealed. Although specific details remain scarce, an illustration of a small robotaxi prototype was featured in Walter Isaacson’s 2023 biography of Musk. Musk has mentioned plans to make the vehicle available through Tesla’s app, akin to Uber and Lyft, and has claimed that Tesla owners could add their cars to this shared network once Full Self-Driving software is advanced enough to handle all driving tasks, a milestone still not reached.
Despite years of promises, Musk has faced difficulties in delivering fully self-driving cars, leading to lawsuits from owners and investigations by multiple government agencies. When asked about the timeline for Tesla’s first unsupervised robotaxi ride, Musk optimistically suggested it could happen by the end of this year but also acknowledged it might be as late as 2025, admitting he tends to be “overly optimistic” with his predictions.
