Elon Musk unveils surprise robovan at flashy Tesla event, says Optimus humanoid robots will cost less than a car
Elon Musk unveiled three new Tesla high-tech products — including a surprise autonomous passenger van — at a highly anticipated event in California Thursday night.Musk rode up to the stage in the long-awaited driverless “Cybercab” that Tesla was expected to showcase during the evening titled “We, Robot,” at Warner Bros.
Studio.But a never-before-seen 20-person “robovan” and the newest generation of Tesla’s humanoid robots also made their debuts during the reveal, which was live-streamed with more than 3.6 million viewers at one point.
Tesla deployed 20 two-door, fully autonomous “Cybercabs” to drive attendees around the studio while dozens of its Optimus humanoid robots served drinks and played rock-paper-scissors with guests.“The autonomous future is here,” Musk said.“We have 50 fully autonomous cars here tonight.
You’ll see model Ys and the Cybercab.All driverless.”Notably, the two-door “Cybercab” comes without a steering wheel, pedals or charging port.
The electric vehicle features inductive charging capabilities and gull-wing doors.“There’s no steering wheel or pedals so I hope this goes well,” Musk joked on stage.
The Tesla CEO said the self-driving taxis would be rolled out “before 2027” and would be available for under $30,000 apiece and 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, let me put it that way,” Musk said, admitting his numerous broken promises of earlier roll-outs dating back to 2020.His idea for the Cybercabs is to make them available to hail through Tesla’s own app, where owners of the taxis could rent out a whole fleet of the driverless EVs.
But the prototypes unveiled Thursday are not yet road-ready since they still need to be supervised by a real human — much like the self-driving modes available on current Teslas on the market.“...