They barely hit the streets of Austin this summer (and still aren’t free of human attendants), but there’s apparently been enough activity in Tesla Robotaxis that reports exist about the cost of making messes in them, from puke to spilled coffee to vape stink. While the fees don’t seem overly stringent on the face of it, there’s enough vagueness in these policies that you may want to second-guess bringing anything that might spill in one of these vehicles.
According to InsideEVs and @sawyermerrit on X, Tesla can charge a rider $150 for what, according to Merritt, the company considers “severe messes, such as biowaste or smoking in the vehicle” that’s currently available only in parts of Austin. Lesser offenses like “food spills, significant dirt and minor stains” result in a $50 fine.
Those charges aren’t on Tesla’s page about Robotaxi Rider Rules other than being charged an “additional fee” at “Tesla’s discretion.” Merritt, however, says Tesla will assess any additional cleaning required after a rider’s trip and then add a fee it determines appropriate through the user’s app.
Users who are charged can reportedly contest their fees by calling a customer support number.
In terms of fairness, the closest comparison is Waymo, a service that has far more vehicles on the road, all of which can operate without a human on board—which potentially means more of a feeling of privacy and the resulting lax attitude toward cleanliness. Waymo charges $50if the rider remembers to “self-report their mess during their ride.” However, an unreported, uh, incident in a Waymo can result in a fine of up to $100 from the company for the first violation and, “up to the cost of cleaning and your account standing may also be impacted,” on second violations.
And Waymo puts smoking or vaping in a separate violation category. Waymo issues a $100 fine for the first offense and, like Tesla, reserves the right to charge for a cleaning and put your account’s standing into question if there are any subsequent smoking-related offenses. For better or worse for riders, though, apart from smoking, Waymo doesn’t parse the concept of “mess” into categories as much as Tesla.
Uber, which has launched a limited, human-supervised self-driving taxi in Dallas ahead of an autonomous version planned for 2026, also does not explicitly specify the terms of its Robotaxi damage fines in its code of conduct or payment terms. The Uber information page for riders of the non-self-driving service simply states that on all trips, “riders are responsible for damage to the interior or exterior of a vehicle caused by incidents such as vomiting or food spills,” with fees handed over to the driver in full.
Zoox, for its part, is very new, operating in Las Vegas with a waitlist forming in San Francisco. For now, it doesn’t specify how much it can charge a user, but it may charge you not only if a mess was left by you or your group, but also if another rider reports an earlier mess, and you failed to. The company says it, “may determine in our sole discretion that you or your guests caused the damage.”
Should you choose to drive yourself around in a rented car, these charges are still better than the $400 smoking fine at Hertz and on par with the $150 fine Turo imposes for fluid spills or pet hair, for example.
All of these cost comparisons are important because these so-called robotaxis gaining momentum in 2026 will continue to be promoted by their respective operators as autonomous even though they require various levels of human intervention, including at times paying gig workers to close stuck doors. And Tesla’s own vision of self-cleaning car interiors from a 2023 patent still exists primarily on paper.
That still leaves humans to pick up after you, your pet or your drunk friend.
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for all things “future of transportation.” To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!
Seven or eight years ago, anyone consuming business tech news might have come across the phrase “the race to build autonomous vehicles.” In private conversations, company execs and startup founders I spoke to sometimes referred to the commercialization of autonomous vehicle technology as “a race.” The phrase seeped into reporting at the time — including some of my articles.
What we’ve learned is that this is not a race so much as a long, curved, and fragmented road — one that looks more like the fan of an alluvial plain than a racetrack — to develop and prove the technology works and make it a profitable business. It’s not a race against others as much as an internal contest with existential stakes.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t real battlegrounds among those working on the technology, especially with robotaxis. Many might point to the number of cities a company has launched in as one indicator. I believe that while helpful, it’s a bit too vague and easy to manipulate.
Two recent news items got me thinking about more narrow and specific battlegrounds within cities: airports and public transit.
Airports were critical to the success of ride-hailing companies. Robotaxis are no different. Today, Waymo offers rides to and from Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport. And it’s clearly looking to unlock more.
This week, Waymo was granted a permit to start testing its autonomous vehicles at San Francisco International Airport, ahead of the launch of a commercial service. This comes just two weeks after Waymo was cleared to start testing at nearby San Jose Mineta International Airport — and as Tesla is also trying to elbow its way into offering ride-hail service to these airports.
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Meanwhile, Waymo and transit software company Viastruck a deal that could have far-reaching implications for cities. Government agencies that use Via’s software for public transit will be able to fold Waymo’s robotaxis directly into their public transit networks. The first city will be Phoenix suburb Chandler through its Chandler Flex fleet of on-demand, shared vehicle fleet.
This is meaningful, in terms of reach, although it may not be a cash cow for Waymo in the short term. As a Waymo spokesperson explained to me: When a traditional Chandler Flex vehicle isn’t available, riders may have the choice to book a trip with Waymo. Should a person choose to ride with Waymo, Chandler Flex will direct them to the Waymo app to hail a fully autonomous ride at a reduced price of $2 or less. At such a low price, it’s hard to see how this will push Waymo’s balance sheet into the black.
Still, it’s an important volume play. And Via CEO Daniel Ramot indicated in one interview that he hopes this spreads to hundreds of cities.
A little bird
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
I gave you three little birds last week, and this week … welp, none that I could verify. Don’t fret — there will be more in the future.
U.K. startup Wayve has garnered buzz for locking up deals — and capital — for its generalized end-to-end approach to automated driving technology. You might recall that a year ago, Wayve raised $1.05 billion in a Series C round with SoftBank Group, Microsoft, and Nvidia participating.
Wayve is now working on a Series D round, and it appears that Nvidia is ready to plunk down more capital. In a letter of intent, which the two companies recently signed, Nvidia said it will evaluate making a $500 million strategic investment in Wayve’s next round. I spoke to Wayve CEO Alex Kendall, and he wouldn’t say exactly when this round is expected to close. But he did say “we’re working quickly towards it.”
Other deals that got my attention …
Divergent Technologies was once solidly in the automotive sector. These days, the advanced manufacturing company has positioned itself as a defense company and has locked up deals with Lockheed Martin, RTX, and General Dynamics. Now it’s raised $290 million, including $40 million in debt, to expand production of missile parts and other specialized components for the military.
EV Realty, a startup focused on providing charging for semitrucks, raised $75 million in a round led by private equity investor NGP. The startup will use the funds to build additional charging hubs throughout California.
Moove, the African vehicle-financing startup backed by Uber, is trying to raise more than $300 million in a round with a post-valuation of more than $2 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources.
XL Batteries, a Marlborough, Massachusetts-based startup developing flow batteries for energy storage, raised $7.5 million from Merrin Investors.
Notable reads and other tidbits
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
Hyundai Motor Groupis intent on growing, and North America is central to its plan. During its investor day, the Korean automaker said it wants to increase annual sales from 4.17 million in 2025 to 5.55 million by 2030. In the short term (meaning for this year), the company shared new targets for an increase in revenue of between 5% and 6% and an operating profit margin of between 6% and 7%.
To get there, Hyundai is investing capital, including putting $2.7 billion over three years into expanding the total production capacity of the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Georgia. The company said “electrified vehicles” (that includes 18 new hybrid models by 2030) are expected to account for 60% of total sales, reaching 3.3 million units, with significant growth anticipated in North America, Europe, and Korea.
Rivian officially broke ground on its long-planned factory near Atlanta.
Stellantisended plans to produce the all-electric Ram 1500 REV pickup truck, citing low demand for full-size EV trucks; however, it’s holding on to the extended-range Ramcharger, which is now confusingly being renamed to Ram 1500 REV.
Tesla said it will redesign its door handles so they’re less likely to trap people inside their cars. The decision came a day after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into claims that Tesla’s door handles become inoperable in certain situations on Model Y SUVs. It also follows an investigation by Bloomberg that exposed the problem.
Meanwhile in Australia, Tesla recalled Powerwall 2 home batteries in the country after the company received reports of fires that led to “minor property damage.”
Uber will test using drones for Uber Eats deliveries in some U.S. markets by the end of this year, part of a new partnership with Israeli startup Flytrex.
Waymo is launching a commercial robotaxi service in Nashville in 2026, and it’s partnering with Lyft to expand its reach.
One more thing …
Speaking of Wayve, I thought it was worth reminding y’all that the startup’s co-founder and CEO, Alex Kendall, will be joining us onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. The event will be held October 27 to October 29 at Moscone West in San Francisco. Register here to join more than 10,000 startup and VC leaders at Disrupt.
Ride-hailing giant Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle startup Momenta plan to start testing robotaxis in Munich, Germany starting in 2026 – the first continental European city either company has announced publicly – with plans to expand to other markets.
The partnership was first unveiled in May 2025, when Uber said Momenta-powered vehicles would launch on its platform in Europe in 2026, initially with human safety operators onboard to monitor the vehicles and take control if needed.
Momenta, founded in 2016, is one of China’s earliest autonomous vehicle (AV) companies. The Beijing-based startup has been testing self-driving cars in China since 2018 and is considered a major player in the country’s competitive AV market.
Uber’s move puts it in direct competition with other ride-hailing companies expanding into Europe’s AV market. For example, in August Lyft announced a deal with China’s Baidu to deploy robotaxis across Europe starting next year, beginning with Germany and the UK.
Momenta is one of 20 global AV partners that Uber has brought on board across its ride-hailing, delivery, and freight businesses. Uber says those partnerships have already generated an annualized rate of 1.5 million mobility and delivery trips.
In the U.S., Uber offers Waymo’s robotaxis on its app in Austin, Atlanta, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Internationally, Uber has partnered with Momenta and other Chinese AV startups, like WeRide and Pony.ai, to roll out robotaxis on the Uber platform in the Middle East. Uber and WeRide currently offer AV rides in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, with plans to expand to Dubai. Uber and UK-based Wayve also recently announced plans to launch public road trials of Level 4 AVs in London.
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(Level 4 autonomy means the vehicle can operate without human intervention under certain conditions.)
Uber said in a statement that it chose Munich as its European launchpad due to the city’s engineering heritage and strong automotive ecosystem.
“Germany has shaped the global automotive industry for more than a century, and now Munich will help shape the future with autonomous vehicles,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, in a statement.
TechCrunch has reached out to Uber and Momenta to learn whether they have already begun the certification process in Germany yet. Momenta will need to prove to German regulators that its vehicles meet certain safety standards and have its designed operating areas (called “geo-fenced zones”) approved by the authorities.
The launch could be Momenta’s first robotaxi deployment in Europe. The company has been operating a service in Shanghai with plans for a commercial rollout with onboard safety operators by the end of this year. As it works to develop its Level 4 capabilities, Momenta has also been working to deploy advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) with partner automakers, including German brands like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi. Momenta’s ADAS is already installed on 400,000 vehicles sold to customers today, according to the company.
Elon Musk, already the world’s richest person, could become the first trillionaire after the Tesla board unveiled a massive new pay package for its CEO to keep his focus on the troubled EV maker.The package would grant him additional shares of Tesla stock if the company is able to grow far beyond its current value, with a market capitalization far greater than any company has ever approached. Musk’s previous pay package, which added significantly to his massive wealth, also laid out ambitious growth plans that once appeared to be a reach – but which Tesla proved able to reach easily.The new pay package could grant Musk 423.7 million additional shares of Tesla stock. Those shares would be worth $143.5 billion at today’s stock value.But Musk would get those shares only if the value of Tesla stock increases significantly in coming years. The company stock would need to reach an overall value of $8.5 trillion for Musk to get all the shares, significantly above the current market capitalization of $1.1 trillion and roughly double the current market value of Nvidia (NVDA), the current most-valuable company on the market.The company’s proxy statement that laid out Musk’s payment plan also included a shareholder proposal that Tesla take a stake in privately-held xAI, the artificial intelligence company that Musk also owns. That could help Elon Musk further consolidate his growing business empire.XAI recently purchased X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which Musk bought for $44 billion of his own money in 2022. The company did not take a position for or against that shareholder proposal, which does not give any details of how large a stake Tesla should take in xAI, and at what price.Musk currently owns 410 million shares of Tesla shares, worth $139 billion at Thursday’s closing price. That stake, along with his stakes in xAI, rocket company SpaceX, and several other companies he has started and runs, have made him the richest person on the planet, worth $378 billion according to Bloomberg’s billionaire tracker.He currently has options to buy an additional 304 million shares of Tesla, but a judge in Delaware has twice struck down that 2018 pay package that granted him those options as illegal. Those rulings came despite overwhelming approval by Tesla shareholders – twice. The company again has tried to grant those options to Musk this year, and adding in those options, he now owns 18% of the company’s shares.Tesla shares nearly doubled in value to a record-high price for its shares between election day and mid-December 2024, as investors bet that his close ties to President Donald Trump would be a boon for Tesla. But as Tesla faced protests and dropping sales and falling profits in backlash to those ties (before he had a falling out with Trump), all those things resulted in Tesla’s stock losing those gains. The shares have recovered some of those losses, but they are still down 26% from the December peak.Still, Musk and his fans on Wall Street have insisted the company is well positioned to grow even larger and more successful in the future. He has continued to predict that his plans for self-driving cars – including a robotaxi service – will create massive profits and value for shareholders. The robotaxis would provide rides to passengers and also allow Tesla owners to rent out their cars for driverless rides when not in use.Musk has also promised a line of humanoid robots that could bring in even more sales than Tesla’s car business.“It’s a big pay package but Tesla needs to keep its biggest asset in Musk as CEO,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told CNN Friday. Ives is one of the bigger Tesla bulls on Wall Street.“In this AI era Musk now will drive its next leg of growth,” Ives added. “The Board had a $1 trillion dollar decision and made the right one.”The board’s proxy statement spoke of the importance of keeping Musk focused on Tesla going forward. In addition to his many business interests, he remains active in politics, despite his falling out with President Trump. He has announced plans to form a third political party.Tesla, in its proxy statement, warned that it needed to incentivize Musk to focus his attention on growing the company. It said that during the negotiations on the pay package, “Musk also raised the possibility that he may pursue other interests that may afford him greater influence if he did not receive such assurances.”The board said it “believes that Mr. Musk singularly possesses the leadership characteristics necessary to transform Tesla and realize its long-term mission at an unparalleled level.”But, so far, those big ambitions have all been grand claims from a man and company that have often fallen short of their promises. Tesla is facing growing competition from Chinese EV makers. BYD, one of those Chinese automakers, is poised to pass Tesla for the most EV sales worldwide, even though it is not available for sale in the United States.Tesla also faces competition from other companies that are ahead of it in providing robotaxi services, including Waymo, the autonomous vehicle unit of Google parent Alphabet, which has its own service and has partnered with Uber in some cities.Shares of Tesla (TSLA) were slightly higher in premarket trading on the news.
Elon Musk, already the world’s richest person, could become the first trillionaire after the Tesla board unveiled a massive new pay package for its CEO to keep his focus on the troubled EV maker.
The package would grant him additional shares of Tesla stock if the company is able to grow far beyond its current value, with a market capitalization far greater than any company has ever approached. Musk’s previous pay package, which added significantly to his massive wealth, also laid out ambitious growth plans that once appeared to be a reach – but which Tesla proved able to reach easily.
The new pay package could grant Musk 423.7 million additional shares of Tesla stock. Those shares would be worth $143.5 billion at today’s stock value.
But Musk would get those shares only if the value of Tesla stock increases significantly in coming years. The company stock would need to reach an overall value of $8.5 trillion for Musk to get all the shares, significantly above the current market capitalization of $1.1 trillion and roughly double the current market value of Nvidia (NVDA), the current most-valuable company on the market.
The company’s proxy statement that laid out Musk’s payment plan also included a shareholder proposal that Tesla take a stake in privately-held xAI, the artificial intelligence company that Musk also owns. That could help Elon Musk further consolidate his growing business empire.
XAI recently purchased X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which Musk bought for $44 billion of his own money in 2022. The company did not take a position for or against that shareholder proposal, which does not give any details of how large a stake Tesla should take in xAI, and at what price.
Musk currently owns 410 million shares of Tesla shares, worth $139 billion at Thursday’s closing price. That stake, along with his stakes in xAI, rocket company SpaceX, and several other companies he has started and runs, have made him the richest person on the planet, worth $378 billion according to Bloomberg’s billionaire tracker.
He currently has options to buy an additional 304 million shares of Tesla, but a judge in Delaware has twice struck down that 2018 pay package that granted him those options as illegal. Those rulings came despite overwhelming approval by Tesla shareholders – twice. The company again has tried to grant those options to Musk this year, and adding in those options, he now owns 18% of the company’s shares.
Tesla shares nearly doubled in value to a record-high price for its shares between election day and mid-December 2024, as investors bet that his close ties to President Donald Trump would be a boon for Tesla. But as Tesla faced protests and dropping sales and falling profits in backlash to those ties (before he had a falling out with Trump), all those things resulted in Tesla’s stock losing those gains. The shares have recovered some of those losses, but they are still down 26% from the December peak.
Still, Musk and his fans on Wall Street have insisted the company is well positioned to grow even larger and more successful in the future. He has continued to predict that his plans for self-driving cars – including a robotaxi service – will create massive profits and value for shareholders. The robotaxis would provide rides to passengers and also allow Tesla owners to rent out their cars for driverless rides when not in use.
Musk has also promised a line of humanoid robots that could bring in even more sales than Tesla’s car business.
“It’s a big pay package but Tesla needs to keep its biggest asset in Musk as CEO,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told CNN Friday. Ives is one of the bigger Tesla bulls on Wall Street.
“In this AI era Musk now will drive its next leg of growth,” Ives added. “The Board had a $1 trillion dollar decision and made the right one.”
The board’s proxy statement spoke of the importance of keeping Musk focused on Tesla going forward. In addition to his many business interests, he remains active in politics, despite his falling out with President Trump. He has announced plans to form a third political party.
Tesla, in its proxy statement, warned that it needed to incentivize Musk to focus his attention on growing the company. It said that during the negotiations on the pay package, “Musk also raised the possibility that he may pursue other interests that may afford him greater influence if he did not receive such assurances.”
The board said it “believes that Mr. Musk singularly possesses the leadership characteristics necessary to transform Tesla and realize its long-term mission at an unparalleled level.”
But, so far, those big ambitions have all been grand claims from a man and company that have often fallen short of their promises. Tesla is facing growing competition from Chinese EV makers. BYD, one of those Chinese automakers, is poised to pass Tesla for the most EV sales worldwide, even though it is not available for sale in the United States.
Tesla also faces competition from other companies that are ahead of it in providing robotaxi services, including Waymo, the autonomous vehicle unit of Google parent Alphabet, which has its own service and has partnered with Uber in some cities.
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) were slightly higher in premarket trading on the news.
Tesla has unveiled its new autonomous self-driving Robotaxi at its We, Robot event at Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles. The silver-chrome hue cybertaxi or cybercab has no steering wheels or pedals and uses AI technology to navigate roads and make passenger stops. It’s expected to completely revolutionize the taxicab industry when it rolls out sometime in 2026 or early 2027.
Los Angeles — Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, though fans of the electric vehicle maker will have to wait until at least 2026 before it’s available.
CEO Elon Musk pulled up to a stage at the Warner Bros. studio lot in one of the company’s “Cybercabs,” telling the crowd the sleek, AI-powered vehicles don’t have steering wheels or pedals. He also expressed confidence in the progress the company has made on autonomous driving technology that makes it possible for vehicles to drive without human intervention.
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk rides in Tesla’s robotaxi at an unveilling event in Los Angeles on Oct. 10, 2024 in this still image taken from video.
Tesla / Handout via REUTERS
Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.
“We’ll move from supervised Full Self-Driving to unsupervised Full Self-Driving, where you can fall asleep and wake up at your destination,” he said. “It’s going to be a glorious future.”
Tesla expects the Cybercabs to cost under $30,000, Musk said. He estimated that the vehicles would become available in 2026, then added “before 2027.”
The company also expects to make the Full Self-Driving technology available on its popular Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in Texas and California next year.
“If they’re going to eventually get to robotaxis, they first need to have success with the unsupervised FSD at the current lineup,” said Seth Goldstein, equity strategist at Morningstar Research. “Tonight’s event showed that they’re ready to take that step forward.”
Tesla had 20 or so Cybercabs on hand and offered event attendees the opportunity to take rides inside the movie studio lot – not on Los Angeles’ roads.
At the presentation, which was dubbed “We, Robot” and was streamed live on Tesla’s website and X, Musk also revealed a sleek minibus-looking vehicle that, like the Cybercab, would be self-driving and can carry up to 20 passengers.
The company also trotted out several of its black and white Optimus humanoid robots, which walked a few feet from the attendees before showing off dance moves in a futuristic-looking gazebo.
Tesla’s Optimus robots dance at an unveiling event in Los Angeles on Oct. 10, 2024, in this still image taken from a video.
Tesla / Handout via REUTERS
Musk estimated that the robots would cost between $28,000-$30,000 and would be able to babysit, mow lawns and fetch groceries, among other tasks.
“Whatever you can think of, it will do,” he said.
The unveiling of the Cybercab comes as Musk tries to persuade investors that his company is more about artificial intelligence and robotics as it struggles to sell its core products, an aging lineup of electric vehicles.
Tesla’s model lineup is struggling and isn’t likely to be refreshed until late next year at the earliest, TD Cowen analyst Jeff Osborne wrote in a research note last week.
Osborne also noted that, in TD Cowen’s view, the “politicization of Elon” is tarnishing the Tesla brand among Democratic buyers in the U.S.
Musk has endorsed former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and has pushed many conservative causes. Last weekend, he joined Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.
Musk has been saying for more than five years that a fleet of robotaxis is near, enabling Tesla owners to make money by having their cars carry passengers while they’re not being used by their owners.
But he’s acknowledged that past predictions for the use of autonomous driving proved too optimistic. In 2019, he promised the fleet of autonomous vehicles by the end of 2020.
The announcement comes as U.S. safety regulators are investigating Full Self Driving and Autopilot based on evidence that it has a weak system for making sure human drivers pay attention.
In addition, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration forced Tesla to recall Full Self-Driving in February because it enabled speeding and violated other traffic laws, especially near intersections. Tesla was to fix the problems with an online software update.
Last April in Snohomish County, Washington, near Seattle, a Tesla using Full Self-Driving hit and killed a motorcyclist, authorities said. The Tesla driver told authorities he was using the system while looking at his phone when the car rear-ended the motorcyclist. The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
NHTSA says it’s evaluating information on the fatal crash from Tesla and law enforcement officials.
The Justice Department also has sought information from Tesla about Full Self-Driving and Autopilot, as well as other items.
Elon Musk unveiled Tesla’s autonomous robotaxi, now known as the Cybercab, at the Warner Bros. studio in Burbank, California on Thursday night. And stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the billionaire Tesla CEO says it’s coming in two or three years.
The Cybercabs are two-seater vehicles with no steering wheel or pedals, and Musk billed them as “individualized mass transit.” Musk promised inductive charging, meaning the vehicle won’t need to be plugged in like a traditional electric car, but didn’t provide any details on how that would work.
Musk started the highly anticipated show by walking out of a Warner Bros. studio building into a Cybercab that drove him to the audience. It made for quite a splashy presentation, complete with the glitz and glitter of Hollywood, and Musk is nothing if not a showman. The only question is whether he can actually deliver something he’s been promising is just “two years away” every year for the past decade.
GIF: Tesla
A concept video for the vehicle was playing behind the Tesla CEO as he was speaking on stage and he claimed “we expect the cost to be below $30,000,” to a large swell of cheers from the audience. But it wasn’t long after naming the price that he was interrupted by someone in the crowd who shouted out to ask when the Cybercabs were going to be available for purchase.
“We do expect actually to start fully autonomous, unsupervised FSD in Texas and California next year,” Musk said to even more cheers.
But then Musk finished his sentence, making it clear he was just talking about the existing Teslas on the road that would presumably need local government permission to operate without drivers.
“And that’s obviously… that’s with the Model 3 and Model Y. And then we expect to be in production with the Cybercab, which is really highly optimized for autonomous transport, in probably… well, I tend to be a little optimistic with time frames, but in 2026,” Musk said stammering with a laugh.
“So, yeah. Before 2027, let me put it that way. And we’ll make this vehicle in very high volume,” Musk claimed, to a much more subdued crowd response.
Amusingly, some of the graphics playing behind Musk still called the vehicle a “robotaxi,” and whoever’s running the X account for Tesla also didn’t get the memo that they’re called Cybercabs now, not robotaxis:
Robotaxi is premium point-to-point electric transport, accessible to everyone pic.twitter.com/oLykwaaTHm
Twenty of the Cybercabs were available for special guests to try out at Thursday night’s event in Burbank. Musk predicted that autonomous cars would become ten times safer than a human and a big selling point is the idea that people who buy Cybercabs would be able to rent them out when the owner isn’t using them like a driverless Uber.
Notably, Musk didn’t say that Tesla was pursuing the regulatory approvals needed for any of the things he was mentioning. And as we’ve seen with other companies, that’s a huge hurdle.
Musk also showed off a Robovan, with a sleek futuristic style, but didn’t give any indication when that might be a reality. “We’re going to make this. And it’s going to look like that,” Musk insisted, with a tone betraying the fact that he perhaps didn’t even believe it himself.
The Robovan will supposedly fit 20 people (four more people than the futuristic Loop vehicles he promised and never delivered on back in the 2010s).
The billionaire CEO also showed off the Optimus robot, which he says will mow your lawn, get your groceries and watch your kids. Musk said he thought Optimus would be “the biggest product ever of any kind.”
Musk claimed the robot would cost “$20-30,000 long-term,” but didn’t give details we hadn’t heard before. Many experts are skeptical that Musk could meet that price point if he gets Optimus into mass production.
But the robots were on hand during the event, supposedly mixing drinks for guests, though it’s not clear how “autonomous” the robots were in reality. Musk has tried that sleight-of-hand before, with a human operator controlling things just out of frame.
The event was titled “We, Robot” and livestreamed on YouTube, but it’s likely to be a huge disappointment to many people who were probably hopeful that Musk would promise something that was actually coming soon.
CNBC’s Squawk on the Street asked a bullish analyst on Thursday morning whether we’d get any info on cost per mile, scaling the cybercab, a ridesharing app, or insurance costs. We didn’t hear anything even approximating those kinds of details on Thursday.
Companies are already doing driverless taxis out in the real world. Alphabet’s Waymo is operating in markets like Los Angeles and San Francisco. GM’s Cruise operates in Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston and recently announced the company will be launching a partnership with Uber in 2025. Cruise temporarily suspended operations in California after an incident in October 2023 where a self-driving vehicle hit and dragged a pedestrian who was jaywalking in San Francisco, but resumed in three cities in June 2024.
The big difference between the existing technology of Waymo and Cruise compared to Tesla is that Musk’s company isn’t using Lidar technology. And many experts think that’s a mistake.
Musk has become a lightning rod of controversy over recent years, buying Twitter in 2022 and turning it into a hotbed of far-right extremism and conspiracy theories. Musk also came out as a Republican in 2022, coincidentally just a day before an unflattering story alleging he offered to buy a flight attendant a horse in exchange for sexual favors, according to Business Insider. The billionaire denied that story.
The American oligarch has fully embraced Trumpism, despite previously calling the Trump too old to run again, and has even started a Super PAC that’s trying to get the neo-fascist former president back into the White House. But Trump may not be the good friend in business that Musk is hoping for, if Trump’s own words can be believed.
Trump gave a speech in Detroit on Thursday where he rambled about a number of topics, even touching on autonomous vehicles, which he doesn’t like.
“Chinese and other countries produced automobile and autonomous vehicles,” Trump said. “Do you like autonomous? Does anybody like an autonomous vehicle? You know what that is, right? When you see a car driving along.”
“Some people do, I don’t know,” Trump continued. “A little concerning to me, but the autonomous vehicles, we’re going to stop from operating on American roads.”
TRUMP: “Other countries produced auto-mo–bile and autonomous vehicles. Do you like autonomous? Does anybody like an autonomous vehicle? You know what that is, right?”
But who knows if Musk can even deliver on the things he promised on Thursday. We’ve heard all of this before in some version or another. Musk has been saying for years that fully autonomous vehicles will be delivered so very soon. Someone even created a video a couple years ago collecting all his promises since 2014.
“In 2020, we expect to have a million robotaxis on the road,” Musk said on an earnings call in 2019, as just one example.
Nobody knows what the future holds, and Musk does have a habit of delivering products very late. But there are certainly times when his promises simply didn’t happen or the finished product was so unlike what he promised that it’s just downright comical.
Do you remember the 16-person vehicles he was promising various municipalities like Chicago and Las Vegas? Musk called it The Loop, not to be confused with the Hyperloop.
The Boring Company was going to build it and transport passengers in a tunnel covering the 18 miles between downtown Chicago and O’Hare Airport. The whole ride would take about 12 minutes, according to Musk, and it looked pretty futuristic, as you can see in a portion of the concept video below.
The concept video for Elon Musk’s 16-passenger The Loop vehicle that never came into being.
That video has since been scrubbed from the internet. Musk never did deliver on a futuristic version of The Loop for Chicago or any other city. Instead, he built a tunnel in Las Vegas with human drivers who are operating normal Teslas at slow speeds. It was very disappointing, to say the least.
What are the odds that Musk’s new Cybercab becomes The Loop? We don’t know. But that two or three-year timeframe doesn’t make us very optimistic about the Cybercab’s future.
Tesla has introduced a robotaxi called Cybercab during its “We, Robot” event at Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio in California, six months after Elon Musk revealed that the company was going to launch one. Musk made his way to the stage on a Cybercab, which has no steering wheels or pedals, announcing that “there’s 20 more” where it came from. He talked about how our current modes of transportation “suck” and how how cars are on standby all the time. A car that’s autonomous could be used more, he said. “With autonomy, you get your time back… Autonomous cars are going to become 10 times safer.”
Musk said the costs of autonomous transport will be so low that they will be comparable to mass transit. In time, he said the operating cost of the robotaxi to be 20 cents a mile, 30 to 40 cents with taxes. He confirmed to the audience that people will be able to buy one and that Tesla expects to sell the Cybercab for below $30,000.
The Tesla CEO envisions a future wherein people own several robotaxis, managing a fleet like a “shepherd,” that can earn them money through a ridesharing network. When asked when the model will be available, he replied that Tesla will start by making fully autonomous unsupervised Full Sell Driving available on the Model 3 and Model Y in Texas and California. Musk said that the Cybercab is expected to go into production before 2027, but he himself admitted that he tends to be “highly optimistic with timeframes.” And he does — he said way back in 2019 that Tesla will “have over a million robotaxis on the road” within a year.
Tesla
Talking about the Cybercab’s technology, he said that it uses AI and vision. Tesla has long dropped radars and sensors that other robotaxis like Waymo’s use extensively. Because of that, he said that it doesn’t need expensive equipment, and Tesla can keep manufacturing costs low. Notably, the Cybercab doesn’t come with a charging port and uses inductive charging instead.
Reutersreported back in April that Musk ordered the company to “go all in” on robotaxis built on its small-vehicle platform. Musk previously said that the model was going to be unveiled on August 8, but he later announced that the company’s robotaxi event will be pushed back to October after he requested “an important design change to the front.” The delay would also give the company extra time to “show off a few other things,” he explained. The Cybercab that Tesla presented to the audience today is all silver and seems to have taken design cues from the Cybertruck. It doesn’t have a back windshield and has doors that open upwards.
Tesla
In addition to reporting the robotaxi’s existence, Reuters revealed in April that Tesla scrapped its plans for an affordable, $25,000 electric vehicle. While Musk called it a lie, another report by Electrek backed Reuters‘ story and cited “sources familiar with the matter” who reportedly told the publication that the low-cost EV’s development has been postponed.
After talking about the Cybercab, Musk briefly introduced the Robovan — an autonomous van that can carry up to 20 people and transport goods. It’ll get the costs of travel down even further, he said, since it could transport big groups like sports teams. Finally, Musk brought out a parade of Tesla’s humanoid Optimus robots. Musk said Tesla has made dramatic progress on its development over the past year and that in the future, it could teach your kids, mow your lawn and even be your friend. He believes Tesla could sell its Optimus robots, which mingled with the audience and served drinks during the event, for between $20,000 to $30,000.
As Tesla gears up to report what will likely be unimpressive financial results for the first quarter on Tuesday, the company is making more moves to go “balls to the wall for autonomy,” as CEO Elon Musk put it last week in a post on X.
Over the weekend, Tesla dropped the price of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) advanced driver assistance system to $8,000, down from $12,000. That price cut is in addition to last week’s drop of the FSD monthly subscription to $99, from $199. The push to get FSD into more cars could be a bid to collect more data as Tesla works to boost the neural networks that will power fuller-scale autonomy. FSD today can perform many driving tasks in cities and on highways, but still requires a human to remain alert with their hands on the wheel in case the system requires a takeover.
Tesla faces narrowing profits as it places a major and expensive bet on autonomous driving technology. Last week, Tesla laid off 10% of its staff in a move to reduce costs in preparation for the company’s “next growth phase,” per an email Musk sent to all employees.
Earlier this month, Musk abruptly announced on X that Tesla was pausing the development of its $25,000 electric vehicle in favor of a robotaxi that he promised to reveal in August. Sources within Tesla have confirmed to TechCrunch that they didn’t have prior warning from Musk on this sudden shift, and that internal restructurings reflect a new ethos that puts robotaxi development at front and center.
All of this is happening as Tesla zigzags on its EV pricing strategy.
Last week, Tesla ditched EV inventory price discounts, but over the weekend slashed prices on Model 3 and Model Ys by as much as $2,000 in the U.S., China and Germany. As we saw during the first quarter of 2023, those price cuts are taking their toll on Tesla’s income and margins.
Tesla is scheduled to report earnings after markets close April 23. Musk has previously said that without autonomy, Tesla is “basically worth zero.”
The company will need to convince investors tomorrow that its shift in priority to autonomous vehicles is a silver lining in the cloud of declining margins, rather than just smoke and mirrors.
Since Musk laid off staff and announced that Tesla would be going hard on autonomy, Tesla’s share price has dropped almost 10%. Shares have fallen over 42% since the start of the year.
What to expect at Tesla’s Q1 2024 earnings
Tesla’s lower first-quarter delivery figures combined with price cuts are ingredients for a smaller profit pie. And analysts seem to agree.
Analysts polled by Yahoo Finance expect a profit of $0.48 per share on 20.94 billion in revenue. As a reminder, Tesla generated $25.17 billion revenue in Q4 and $23.3 billion in the first quarter of 2023.
Tesla delivered 386,810 vehicles in the first quarter of 2024, down 20% from the 484,507 it delivered in the final quarter of 2023. It’s worth noting that this wasn’t just a quarter over quarter blip. Tesla delivered fewer cars than the first quarter of 2023 — the first year-over-year drop in sales in three years.
Tesla’s Q4 results showed a company already grappling with shrinking profit margins due to its price cutting strategy, rising costs of its Cybertruck production launch and other R&D expenses.
The automaker reported net income, on a GAAP basis, of $7.9 billion in the fourth quarter — an outsized number caused by a one-time non-cash tax benefit of $5.9 billion. The company’s operating income and its earnings on an adjusted basis provided a clearer picture of its financial performance.
Tesla reported operating income of $2.06 billion in the fourth quarter, a 47% decrease from the same year-ago period. On an adjusted basis, the company earned $3.9 billion, a 27% drop from the same period last year.
The question is whether Tesla can prevent that profit pie from shrinking to profit muffin.
Since Tesla reported its Q1 2024 production and delivery numbers, the company has continued to pull various financial levers aimed at attracting new buyers and inducing existing customers to pay for FSD — all while reducing costs and maintaining profit margins.
Those opposing goals coupled with Musk’s “wartime CEO mode” status are bound to make the Q1 earnings call entertaining. Beyond that potential theater, there are pressing long-term questions about how Tesla delivers on autonomy and if it will be enough to convince investors that it can still lead and innovate.
Tesla is introducing a robotaxi on August 8, Elon Musk has announced on X a few hours after Reuters published a report that the automaker is scrapping its plans to produce a low-cost EV. Reuters also said that Musk’s directive was to “go all in” on robotaxis built on the company’s small-vehicle platform. Tesla has been promising a more affordable EV with prices expected to start at $25,000 for years, and Musk said as recently as this January that he’s optimistic the model will arrive in the second half of 2025. In response to the report, the Tesla chief tweeted that “Reuters is lying (again).”
He didn’t clarify which part of the report was a lie, but considering he confirmed that Tesla is unveiling a robotaxi, he likely meant the news organization’s claim that the company pulled the plug on a more affordable EV. At the moment, Tesla’s cheapest vehicle is the Model 3, but its prices start at $39,000. It’ll be interesting to see how the company will make a robotaxi work with its camera-only system — it dropped radar and other sensors, which robotaxi companies like Waymo use extensively, from its driver assistance technologies a few years ago.
General Motors is taking a more active role in shaping the safety culture at Cruise, following a string of incidents that prompted California regulators to suspend permits that allowed the self-driving car subsidiary to operate commercially in the state. The legacy automaker is inserting one of its own executives, who is also a Cruise board member, to head up the self-driving car company’s legal and policy, communications and finance teams.
Craig Glidden, GM’s EVP of legal and policy and a Cruise board member, will come on as chief administrative officer at Cruise. Glidden will oversee work streams around transparency and community engagement, according to Cruise.
Cruise said it will also pause all supervised and manual autonomous vehicle operations in the U.S., which the company says affects some 70 vehicles. Cruise had already voluntarily paused all of its driverless operations in cities across the country, including Houston, Austin and Phoenix, in order to “rebuild public trust” following after an October 2 event that left a pedestrian, who had been hit by a human-driven vehicle, run over and dragged 20 feet by a Cruise robotaxi.
“This orderly pause is a further step to rebuild public trust while we undergo a full safety review,” according to a blog post from the company announcing the changes.
In early November, Cruise hired consulting firm Exponent to conduct a technical root causes analysis of the October 2 incident. The company said Tuesday that remit will expand to include a comprehensive review of all of Cruise’s safety systems and technology.
The Cruise board also said it would hire a third-party safety expert in the coming weeks to fully assess the company’s safety operations and culture. The moves follows the lead of other AV companies, including those that have faced scrutiny over safety practices. Uber ATG, the ride-hailing company’s former self-driving vehicle unit, hired former National Transportation Safety Board chairman Christopher Hart to advise the company on its safety culture after the May 2018 fatal self-driving car crash in Arizona.
The outside safety expert is in addition to last week’s announcement the Cruise will hire a chief safety officer to report directly to Vogt. Other AV companies such as Aurora have dedicated chief safety officers. Cruise did not respond in time to confirm whether the company had a dedicated executive overseeing safety at the company previously.
A survey that Blind, an anonymous forum for verified employees, conducted for TechCrunch found that half of Cruise employees are either not at all confident (32%) or only slightly confident (18%) in Cruise’s safety culture. Over three-quarters of the 136 Cruise employees surveyed from November 7 to November 8 said they believed Cruise was trying to scale too quickly.
The changes come a day after Cruise and GM held a board meeting to discuss next steps for the embattled AV company. CEO Kyle Vogt had warned staff last week that layoffs would be coming, and then the company began letting go contract workers.
The California Public Utilities Commission has suspended Cruise’s authority to carry and charge passengers for its robotaxi service, following similar action from the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.
The CPUC is also “independently carrying out investigatory activities into recent incidents involving passenger service,” Terrie Prosper, director of news and outreach at the CPUC, told TechCrunch.
The agency’s decision comes just three months after it awarded Cruise the final necessary permits to charge passengers for robotaxi rides in San Francisco. Until then, Cruise had been running a free service in the city. The CPUC’s suspension also follows the California Department of Motor Vehicle’s suspension of Cruise’s deployment and driverless testing permits Tuesday.
The DMV’s order of suspension, which TechCrunch has viewed, states that Cruise withheld video footage from an ongoing investigation. The DMV was investigating Cruise following a series of incidents, specifically one on October 2 that left a pedestrian, who had been initially hit by a human-driven car, stuck under a Cruise robotaxi and then dragged for 20 feet at 7 miles per hour by the AV.
The agency said when it met with Cruise representatives on October 3 to view footage of the accident, Cruise only presented the AV’s initial stop following a hard-brake maneuver. The subsequent movement of the AV to perform a “pullover maneuver,” which resulted in the pedestrian being dragged, was left out, according to the DMV. (Cruise also showed TechCrunch an edited version of the event, omitting the subsequent movement. At the time, Cruise presented it as the full video).
The DMV said another government agency alerted it to the missing footage, prompting it to request the full video from Cruise, which the company provided on October 13.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Cruise denied the DMV’s claims and said it proactively shared information with the DMV, the CPUC and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), including the full video.
NHTSA is also investigating Cruise in regards to this event, plus a number of other incidents such as Cruise’s collision with an emergency vehicle and dozens of instances of robotaxis malfunctioning and blocking traffic and first responders.
The CPUC did not confirm or deny Cruise’s claim that it had shared the full video with the agency immediately after the October 2 accident.
“Our Consumer Protection and Enforcement Division is actively gathering, reviewing, and analyzing incident-related information from Cruise as part of our ongoing evaluation of its passenger serviceoperations and assessment of any possible violations,” said Prosper. “We will maintain close coordination with the California DMV throughout the ongoing investigation.”
The CPUC also did not respond to TechCrunch’s inquiry regarding whether the agency will reinstate Cruise’s permits if and when the DMV does.
Despite the fact that the DMV first gave Cruise permission to test and deploy its AVs across San Francisco, the CPUC received pushback for giving Cruise the go-ahead to expand its commercial service city-wide and 24/7. The CPUC’s August hearing to determine expansion for Cruise and its competitor Waymo included hours of protestations from opponents who feared for public safety and were concerned about traffic flow.
The ride-hailing company announced the launch with a press release Wednesday. Uber is teaming with Boston-based Motional, a two-year-old autonomous vehicle company founded as a partnership between Hyundai and auto parts maker Aptiv. The robotaxis come in the form of modified all-electric Hyundai Ioniq hatchbacks.
According to Motional’s press release about the launch, autonomous vehicles (AV) will simply be an additional option for Uber users requesting rides in Las Vegas, if available. They won’t simply show up like eerily empty ghost cars, though — the Ioniqs have a pair of “vehicle operators” who monitor operations and assist riders with rider needs.
Motional and Uber added the operators in preparation for a fully driverless service they want to make publicly available next year. In the press release, Motional VP of Commercialization Akshay Jaising stated that “Las Vegas is the first of many cities in which Motional’s AVs will become an everyday transportation option for Uber customers looking for a safe and convenient ride.”
Here’s more about long-term plans for the partnership:
This service is the first in Motional and Uber’s 10-year commercial partnership that will see Motional’s Level 4 autonomous vehicles (AVs) deployed for ride-hail and deliveries on the Uber network in major cities across the U.S. The public robotaxi service will first launch in Las Vegas before expanding at a later date to Los Angeles, CA.
Motional says the launch makes it the first company of its kind to partner with a major rideshare network.
Users in Vegas interested in taking a robotaxi ride can select options for either UberX or Uber Comfort Electric.
