An image of a Tesla robotaxi concept inspired by the Cybertruck has been revealed in a new Elon Musk biography by Walter Isaacson released on Tuesday.
The two-door, two-seat compact vehicle, similar to the Cybertruck, features angular edges and what appears to be a fingerprint-inducing stainless steel finish. Although it’s unclear whether or not this will actually be built – the world is still waiting for an actual Cybertruck – the image confirms that engineers were influenced by the wedge-shaped design.
The second photo in the book shows Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s chief designer, standing next to an “early robot taxi.” It’s little more than a piece of cardboard, again displaying two seats, plus space behind them for luggage. It’s not clear how early this design was, but the image is in a section of the book that introduced Autopilot (Tesla’s advanced driver assistance system) and Musk’s life between 2014 and 2016.
Pictures for Robotaxi pictures The biography began appearing on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, on Monday ahead of the book’s official launch.
Isaacson has been leaking excerpts and information from his biography about Musk over the past few weeks to generate buzz around the book. The biographer, who has been an integral part of Musk’s life for years, also revealed that Tesla will build the first of its next-generation electric vehicles — including a $25,000 car and a robotaxi — in Texas instead of its upcoming Gigafactory in Mexico, according to the magazine. Exclusive. from Axios. The factory will use Tesla’s “unboxing process,” revealed at the automaker’s 2023 Investor Day in March, which allows factory workers to work on separate sections of the car and ultimately bring them together for final assembly.
Both vehicles will have a futuristic design similar to the Cybertruck.
“When one of these things gets close, people will think they’re seeing something of the future,” Musk said during a secret meeting in September 2022, according to Axios.
The robotaxi will be built from the ground up without pedals or a steering wheel, despite the objections of engineers who pushed for a safer design concept on the grounds that Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) software did not yet exist, according to a report. It was reported by the British newspaper “Daily Mail”. Excerpts from the book. FSD is Tesla’s upgraded advanced driving assistance system that can automate some driving tasks in city and highway environments, but it’s not yet a fully autonomous system. It relies solely on cameras, rather than an array of sensors including sensors and radar, to gather information about its environment, as well as Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer to make quick decisions.
It appears that Musk has remained steadfast in his position. “Let me be clear,” he told his designers in an August 2022 meeting. This vehicle should be designed to be a clean robotaxi. We’re going to take that risk. It’s my fault if he has sex. But we’re not going to design some kind of amphibious frog that’s a middle-of-the-road car. “We are all looking forward to autonomy.”
Current federal safety standards prohibit mass production of vehicles without steering wheels or pedals, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected to do so. Announcing new rules On it in September.
There are other companies coming to market with purpose-built self-driving vehicles, such as GM’s Cruise and Amazon’s Zoox. These vehicles are designed to be large and boxy, with ample room inside and four to six seats. By contrast, Tesla’s robotaxis may only seat two people, which could deprive Tesla of mass-market appeal.
Mass production by 2024?
In April 2022, Musk shared plans to bring a customized robotaxi without a steering wheel or pedals to the market by 2024. This means Tesla would need to develop, test, validate, mass-produce and launch the robotaxi service within two years. In California, where there has been the most regulation and AV activity, Tesla has a permit to test autonomous vehicles with a driver in the front seat, but not without one.
Of course, Tesla may decide to launch a robotaxi service in its new state, Texas, where laws for deploying self-driving vehicles are more lax.
However, Tesla hasn’t been entirely clear on how it plans to bring robotaxis to the market. Musk has promised for years to turn the Tesla cars people have today into their own robotaxis via his FSD software. Musk described the potential service as something like Airbnb for cars, where owners could earn extra income by sending their cars to give others rides.
FSD, and Tesla’s previous version of ADAS called Autopilot, has been criticized by Tesla owners, safety regulators and federal agencies for a host of issues, including false advertising and enhancing vehicle capabilities that don’t yet exist. Musk recently demonstrated the program in a live video, during which he had to take the wheel to park his car He staggers into an intersection During red light.