“We’ll move from supervised Full Self-Driving to unsupervised Full Self-Driving. where you can fall asleep and wake up at your destination,” Musk said. “It’s going to be a glorious future.”
Musk envisions that the Cybercab and Robovan will operate similarly to ride-sharing services like Uber and Bolt, with users able to summon a vehicle using an app, and suggested that owners of the cars will be able to hire them out.
The Cybercab has been in the works for years as part of Musk’s bold plan to transition Tesla from a pure car firm to a robotics manufacturer, but its unveiling trails that of Mate Rimac’s similarly conceived Verne robotaxi, and four years after Musk had originally planned to have a fleet of robotaxis on the road.
Rival firms including Waymo, Cruise and Deeproute.ai already operate driverless taxis in various cities around the world, but no vehicle currently offers the sort of full autonomy (Level 5) that Musk plans for the Cybercab and Robovan.
Musk’s uncharacteristic reluctance to confirm a planned launch date comes as recognition of the fact that Tesla’s vehicles tend to come to market several years after he says they will. “I tend to be a little optimistic with time frames,” he joked at the Cybercab’s unveiling.