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Elon Musk says he’ll showcase Tesla’s purpose-built “robotaxi” prototype throughout an occasion October 10, after scrapping a earlier plan to disclose it August 8. Musk mentioned Tesla may even showcase “a few different issues,” however didn’t clarify what that meant.
The feedback, made on Tesla’s second-quarter earnings name Tuesday, largely confirms Bloomberg’s unique report concerning the delay, together with that it was pushed by Musk’s need to revamp sure components of the prototype. Musk confirmed earlier this month that he requested an “necessary design change to the entrance.”
“Shifting it again just a few months allowed us to enhance the robotaxi, in addition to add in a pair different issues for the product unveil,” Musk mentioned through the name.
The Tesla robotaxi — and the “unsupervised” full-self-driving software program that Musk says will run them — is on the middle of the corporate’s future. Earlier this 12 months, he laid off greater than 10% of Tesla’s international employees in a bid to reorganize the corporate in direction of creating synthetic intelligence-powered merchandise, together with a “balls to the wall” push in direction of creating autonomy.
That AI-focused future is bumping up in opposition to the corporate’s main revenue middle of promoting EVs, although. Tesla reported Tuesday that it made $1.5 billion in revenue for the second quarter of 2024, down 45% from the identical interval final 12 months. That revenue was padded by a document $890 million in regulatory credit score gross sales, too, although Tesla reported a $622 million restructuring cost that dragged down its earnings.
This efficiency follows what was already a tough begin to the 12 months for Tesla, the place it noticed a 55% year-over-year drop in revenue within the first quarter.
The corporate is now an actual risk of promoting fewer EVs in 2024 than it did in 2023, which might symbolize a surprising reversal of its prior progress trajectory. Tesla has massaged this by telling buyers that it’s between “two main progress waves,” pinning hopes of extra gross sales on the brand new (however polarizing and costly) Cybertruck, and mysterious future fashions that might be offered at a decrease MSRP.
That’s all “within the noise,” although, in keeping with Musk. Tesla’s long-term worth lies in autonomy and autonomy alone, he pressured on Tuesday’s name. That features the corporate’s humanoid robotic effort, dubbed Optimus, which received a sneaky delay this week. But it surely largely facilities round Musk’s longest working promise that he has but to ship on: self-driving vehicles.
With that in thoughts, Musk tried to focus buyers’ consideration to the October 10 occasion. Not a lot is publicly identified about what Tesla will showcase, although there was an illustration of a small robotaxi prototype within the biography of Musk written by Walter Isaacson in 2023.
Musk has spoken about making the car out there to individuals by means of Tesla’s app, much like how Uber and Lyft function. He’s additionally claimed Tesla house owners will be capable to put their very own vehicles on the shared community as soon as the corporate makes its Full Self-Driving software program superior sufficient to deal with all driving — one thing it’s nonetheless removed from conducting, regardless of the identify.
Regardless of years of guarantees, Musk has struggled to execute on the thought of totally self-driving vehicles, and in consequence Tesla is being sued by house owners and investigated by quite a few authorities companies.
Requested on the decision when Tesla would be capable to provide its first unsupervised robotaxi experience, Musk mentioned he believes it might be potential by the top of this 12 months. However he added that it additionally may occur in 2025, and that he’s “overly optimistic” together with his predictions.
This story has been up to date with extra particulars from Tesla’s second-quarter earnings name.
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