How Elon Musk's 'Steering Wheels' Will Change the Course of History

Tesla's RoboTaxi

Description of the article
Author, Leila Jamali
Position, North America Technology Representative

Tesla, the famous company that manufactures electric vehicles, has launched a driverless taxi called 'CyberCab'.

At an event held at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, Elon Musk, the owner of the Tesla company, introduced the Cyber ​​Cab developed by his company.

In addition to dancing, Tesla's robots served drinks to attendees at the event.

Elon Musk got out of the cab in a special way while presenting the Cyber ​​Cab to the participants.

The taxi looks like a computer graphic has entered the real world. The cab has two doors that open like wings. It has neither pedals nor steering wheel.

Elon Musk said at the event called 'We Robot' that 'driverless vehicles are safer than vehicles that are driven by humans.'

He said that one of the advantages of driverless vehicles is that users can also use them as taxis.

When will the car be available and what will the price be?

Elon Musk estimates that production of the CyberCab will begin 'before 2027'.

However, critics believe that it will take more time to secure the taxi and that Elon Musk will once again take longer than his own deadline.

Elon Musk, however, smiled and said that he remains 'optimistic' about the deadlines.

He said that CyberCab will compete with 'Way Mo' developed by Alphabet, the owner of Google, while the price of CyberCab will be less than 30 thousand dollars.

However, analysts have expressed doubts over CyberCab's price being lower than Waymo. According to him, this project is not based on reality.

"It is very difficult for Tesla to create a new type of vehicle at this price in such a short period of time," said Paul Miller of IT research company Forrester.

"Without subsidies or Tesla taking a loss on every vehicle, the chances of launching a vehicle this low in this decade are slim," he said.

Elon Musk

How safe are driverless cars?

At the event, Elon Musk said he hopes to introduce the 'fully autonomous' technology used in Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y vehicles by next year in the states of Texas and California 'wherever it is allowed. It will happen.'

However, there is no guarantee of such approval.

Smitha Samaranayake, associate professor of engineering at Cornell University, said that these types of vehicles are like 'a big piece of metal moving down the road at high speed. There are also concerns about how safe these vehicles will be.

Tesla's self-driving vehicles rely on cameras. These cameras are also cheaper than radar and lidar (which have light detection technology).

These cameras are used as the backbone of Tesla versus other vehicles.

Tesla plans to teach the cars to drive automatically through artificial intelligence, in addition to training the cars to collect data on millions of cars around them.

However, according to Professor Samitha Samaranayake, researchers are not convinced that 'the way Tesla wants to make things work will have any guarantee of safety.'

Along with the RoboTaxi, Tesla has also unveiled the RoboVan

Repeated delays in the launch of Cyber ​​Cab

The Cybercab project has been facing a lot of delays. This car was supposed to be launched in August.

However, a few months ago, Elon Musk said in a tweet on X that the introduction of the CyberCab is being delayed because, according to him, some important changes had to be made to its design.

On the other hand, Tesla's Robo-taxis were already roaming on some roads in America.

Tesla is believed to be set for a decline in annual vehicle sales. On the other hand, Tesla's rivals are making a name for themselves in the market despite the decline in electric vehicle sales.

At the event, Elon Musk also introduced a prototype 'RoboVan' that can carry 20 passengers at a time.

Dan Ives, managing director of Wedbush Securities, said the van would "provide Tesla with significant leverage for years to come."

Another analyst said that 'it seemed that the participants in this event had taken a trip down memory lane and arrived in the future.'

Jessica Caudwell, head of insights at Edmonds Co., said: 'Musk has painted an idealized future for transportation that promises to save us time and increase safety.'

But there are doubts about whether they can make this vision of theirs a reality or not.

State of the Robotics Market

Before the robo-taxis hit the road, driverless cars operated by General Motors subsidiary Cruise have been suspended after they hit a pedestrian in San Francisco.

Despite this, the sector continues to expand and grow.

Waymo said in early October that it would add Hyundai's Avonic-5 to its fleet of robo-taxis, but before those vehicles would undergo road testing with the company's technology.

Ride-hailing giant Uber is also looking to add more autonomous vehicles to its fleet to expand its convenience and ride-sharing options for customers.

The company announced a deal with driverless car maker Cruise in August.

Similarly, Chinese tech company Baidu is also reportedly trying to expand its robotaxi division Apollo Go beyond China, i.e. outside the country. It should be noted that its driverless automated taxis are operating in many Chinese cities.

*Additional reporting by Leo McMahon

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#Science #Technology #The_car_industry #Transport #Artificial_intelligence #Robotics #innovation