Tesla Says Dedicated ‘Futuristic’ Robotaxis are in the Works

During Tesla’s ‘Cyber Rodeo’ grand opening event for Gigafactory Texas on Thursday, company CEO Elon Musk announced plans for a dedicated, “futuristic” Robotaxi from the electric vehicle (EV) maker.

“What I can say is we’re gonna move to truly massive scale – scale that no company has ever achieved in the history of humanity. That has to happen to transition the world to sustainable energy. Massive scale, Full Self-Driving, there’s gonna be a dedicated Robotaxi that’s gonna look quite futuristic,” said Musk on stage.

Not to be confused with the autonomous, self-driving robotaxis that Musk has been promising Tesla owners to “enable your car to make money for you when you aren’t using it.” Those will come once the company achieves Full Self-Driving (FSD).

At the company’s Q4 2021 earnings call, Musk said he believes Full Self-Driving will be “achievable this year” with a safety level greater than that of a person.

The Tesla CEO did not divulge any further information about the design or other details of the company’s planned robotaxis on Thursday.

Last month, a consumer perception study revealed Tesla to be the most-trusted brand for the development of fully-autonomous vehicles.

Musk went on to unveil the latest prototype of the company’s all-electric Cybertruck, slated to start production at Giga Texas next year, at Thursday’s ‘Cyber Rodeo’ event.

Tesla also delivered the first Texas-made Model Y cars to customers at Thursday’s event, officially kicking off operations at Gigafactory Austin.