Elon Musk’s EV Empire Unveils Cybercabs and Robovans. Now What?Highly-anticipated Robotaxi event offered a glimpse into what Elon Musk touted as “the future” — a driverless almond-shaped Cybercab robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals and a Robovan that can ferry up to 20 people (but looks like a giant sliding toaster ). Both are futuristic and flashy. But can they generate revenue and keep Tesla churning out profits? That’s the question investors were asking while they pressed hard on the “Sell TSLA shares” button.
Tesla (ticker: TSLA ) is introducing a new era. Years after it had released a new product (the Cybertruck in 2019), the electric-vehicle maker, towering over the EV space , is expanding its product suite with not one but two new sick wheels. Rolling up to the stage in one of them — a robotaxi called “Cybercab” — Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, unveiled the driverless two-seater cab and an autonomous van conveniently called Robovan.
“You could fall asleep and wake up at your destination,” Musk said on stage after he arrived one hour late. “There’s no steering wheel or pedals so I hope this goes well.”
The other big reveal was a Robovan/Robobus that can pick up a total of 20 people at a time. The Robovan is especially odd-looking, which, according to Musk, is intentional. “We want to change the look of the roads,” said Musk. “The future should look like the future.”
The icing on the cake was a new version of Optimus — Tesla’s humanoid robot. In its latest form, Optimus was spotted pouring drinks at the venue and dancing in fish tanks while flexing jacked forearms.
Happening at the Warner Brothers movie set in Los Angeles, the hotly-awaited invite-only event had managed to sneak in 50 Cybercab prototypes and multiple humanoid robots.
Of the few details laid out around the business model — the Cybercab is going to cost less than $30,000 with an operating cost of 20 cents a mile. “We expect to be in production with the Cybercab … in probably — well, I tend to be a little optimistic with time frames — but in 2026. Before 2027,” Musk said.
How would that work? Musk is hoping that there will be millions of Cybercabs available to rent out from the owners through the Tesla app. “Your average passenger car is only used 10 hours a week,” he noted. “If they are autonomous they could be used five times more, maybe 10 times more.” Thus, it seems like Musk is betting on new owners looking to convert their vehicles into autonomous taxis, earning them a passive income.
But there’s a long way to go — this new way of transportation requires regulatory approval and regulators don’t exactly have a reputation for being open-minded to new ideas.
According to Elon Musk, Tesla’s future hinges on autonomous driving. Driverless vehicles are central to the continued growth and success of the EV maker. So much so that Musk has previously said that Tesla’s market cap could hit $30 trillion, or about 40 times the current valuation (or 10 times the market cap of Apple (ticker: AAPL ), the world's most expensive company .) For reference, the entire S&P 500 index is worth $50 trillion today.
Tesla’s market worth may skyrocket 40 times but it won’t be today. The neon-filled scene giving futuristic vibes and Musk touting the new products as game-changers didn’t inspire investors to rush in and shove their cash into Tesla shares.
Some key details were missing and that prompted investors to take a cautious stand. First off, from over 2 hours of livestreamed content , the presentation was just about 20 to 30 minutes and didn’t discuss anything about self-driving safety. No deep dives into the business model on the side of revenue or market share for driverless taxis. And with Musk’s broken promises — he had said that millions of robotaxis will be ferrying passengers in 2020 — investors went mild instead of wild.
First trades at the opening bell in New York on Friday saw Tesla shares drop more than 10%. Was the event mostly razzle-dazzle and lots of glam and glitz? Or was there any real substance behind?
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