Elon Musk has unveiled his long-promised robotaxi – called Cybercab – as the electric car boss bets on self-driving ride-hailing cars to revive his company’s fortunes.
At a much-hyped event in California on Thursday the Tesla chief executive arrived on stage in one of the new robotaxis, which has no steering wheel or pedals.
He told the excited crowd that Tesla will begin production on the new cars in 2026.
“The autonomous future is here,” Mr Musk declared.
The two-seater vehicles, which have butterfly-style wing doors and no rear window, will be available for customers to buy for less than $30,000 (£23,000) and will cost only 20 cents a mile to run, he said.
“The vast majority of the time, cars are just doing nothing,” he said on stage at Warner Bros Studios in Burbank. “But if they’re autonomous, they could be used five times more, maybe 10 times more.”