Elon Musk launches self-driving robotaxis: “Men will never drive again”

Elon Musk announces: Tesla's self-driving robotaxis will arrive on August 8th

“Tesla Robotaxi to be revealed on August 8.” With this very concise post on X, of which he is also the owner, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the imminent arrival of the new futuristic project. Musk had already declared in the past that Tesla will make a controlless car for human use. He has also said in the past that Tesla cars with full self-driving capabilities will gradually become more capable thanks to software updates.

Tesla models with FSD (Full Self-Driving)”they will be superhuman to the point that it will seem strange in the future for humans to drive cars, even when exhausted and drunk!”, Musk wrote in a post on X last March. As Repubblica reports, just after the announcement, Tesla shares increased by more than 3% in aftermarket transactions.

Five years ago, in April 2019, Tesla said it would start using robotaxis by 2020. The company predicted that autonomous cars would last 11 years and travel 1 million kilometers, earning the company and operators $30,000 a year. Musk also acknowledged that his predictions can be off, sometimes by a lot.

But now it's getting serious, as demonstrated by the announcement of a specific date for the launch of Tesla's robotaxis. As CNN explains, currently, full self-driving capability can be purchased with a new Tesla Model 3, for example, for an extra $12,000 over the purchase price of around $40,000. It can also be purchased on a subscription basis for up to $199 per month, depending on the car's original trim level.

Various companies, including Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet, and GM subsidiary Cruise, are working on autonomous ride-sharing services. There are still some doubts, with security still needing to be perfected. Any examples? Cruise suspended its testing after one of its self-driving cars hit and dragged a pedestrian. Waymo recently had to recall its cars after two of them hit the same tow truck within minutes of each other.