A certain vision of the future. During his presentation “We robots”Elon Musk presented two new models of 100% autonomous vehicles that he plans to market starting in 2026.
This presentation took place at the Warner Bros. Hollywood studios. With a certain sense of staging, in the middle of this movie set that reproduces the center of a city, Elon Musk appeared, before getting into the Cybercab and its doors that opened. They open with elytrons.
A two-seater vehicle as expected, without a steering wheel or pedals, with a large touch screen located in the center and a trunk in the rear.
It’s time for Elon Musk to take the stage facing the audience not far away:
“I just arrived in a robotaxi, the Cybercab, and there are 20 others in circulation, there is no one in them and they move completely autonomously.”introduced the fanciful boss of Tesla.
“There is no steering wheel or pedals, so I hope everything goes well.”he joked before launching into a quick introduction.
Elon Musk points to a world in which car traffic is clearly not optimized, citing the example of large metropolises like Los Angeles. Traffic jams and, therefore, loss of time, a problem with the storage of vehicles that in the end are used very little, which forces the construction of large parking lots.
If cars were autonomous, they could be used between 5 and 10 times more, summarizes Elon Musk, who then poses the main challenge of autonomous driving: recovering that time lost behind the wheel.
Reduced cost
Compared to the cost of a bus ticket, which he calculates at one dollar per mile, he wants to develop a “individualized mass transportation”. According to him, the cost of the trip could thus be reduced to 20 cents per mile and less than 50 cents taking into account various taxes.
Above all, he estimates that the Cybercab could sell for less than $30,000.
But when? For Elon Musk, the Model 3 and Model Y, and ultimately all Tesla models, including the Cybertruck, will be able to benefit from an FSD starting next year (for “full autonomous driving”the most advanced version of Autopilot in the United States) without supervision, that is, without the driver needing to hold the steering wheel to be prepared to react at all times.
For Cybercab, the goal is ambitious and commercialization is planned for 2026. Subject, of course, to authorization from regulators, initially in California and Texas. Elon Musk, however, continues to trust computers “who don’t fall asleep or send text messages” and the accumulated experience of different driving scenarios that transform them into “superhumans”less likely to suffer an accident.
A 100% autonomous driving system based on cameras and artificial intelligence analysis, with a computer that Elon Musk promises is perfectly optimized in the Cybercab, but already sufficient in its current models. For example, according to him, expensive Lidar is not necessary to continue offering this type of vehicle at an affordable price.
Inductive charging
Interestingly, the Cybercab will not have a charging port, but will have induction charging, a first for Tesla. Enough to facilitate energy recovery at any time in Elon Musk’s near-future scenario.
Maintenance could also be automated, with a clip showing robots tidying and cleaning the cabin.
Then another vehicle appeared, a large futuristic module whose wheels cannot be distinguished: the Robovan.
A futuristic bus “bigger than a model” and with the capacity to transport 20 people or products to be transported.
For Elon Musk, the cost of this transportation could drop to between 5 and 10 cents per mile, or between 10 and 20 times less than the current bus trip mentioned a little earlier.
Elon Musk insists on the futuristic appearance of this vehicle, of which we also discover a very refined interior.
Latest announcement from Elon Musk: Optimus robots continue to progress. The night after this presentation they will be at the bar serving drinks, he announces.
These robots are presented as potential domestic 2.0 for watering plants or collecting mail.
“They can do whatever you want, take care of the children or be your elder.
This robot could be offered for $20,000, “a possible long-term price”specifies Elon Musk.
The manager considers it the most requested product of all time, but does not give more details about a precise marketing schedule.
“Please be nice to the Optimus robots, Elon Musk jokes in conclusion, let the party begin!”
Source: BFM TV
