Tesla prepares 100% autonomous mobility with Cybercab and Robovan

Very much a political player - and a controversial one at that, Elon Musk does, however, occasionally return to one of its core businesses: the mobility. At the keynote "We, Robotthe boss of Tesla presented with great fanfare two new electric vehicles. What they have in common is that they are 100% stand-aloneand even get rid of the steering wheel and pedals...

" Welcome to the We, Robot party. As you can see, I've just arrived in a robot taxi, and there are about twenty others accompanying me. ". In his keynote introduction, Elon Musk set the scene. He continued: " There's nobody inside, as you can see. There are fifty fully autonomous vehicles here tonight. You can take a ride. There's no steering wheel or pedals. So I hope it goes well... We'll see! ". Amaxophobes should therefore refrain, even if Elon Musk assures us: " autonomous driving will be ten times safer than human driving ".

" Tesla already works very well with supervised autonomous driving. We're going to move from supervised autonomous driving to unsupervised autonomous driving. You can fall asleep and wake up at your destination "promises the Tesla boss. He describes a near future in which " Cars will become comfortable little living rooms ".

The first new product to be unveiled at "We, Robot" is called Cybercab. As its name suggests, the vehicle is intended for use as a taxi / VTC. But Elon Musk sees further ahead. Bigger. As usual - and isn't that, after all, the leitmotif of every keynote? -The Tesla boss is promising a revolution. A new relationship with the car and its shared use. A new approach to urban planning. " There is a challenge for the many people for whom a car is too expensive. And when you think about it, how many hours a week is a car used? Most of the time, it's unused. If it is autonomous, it can be used five or even ten times more. ". It's easy to imagine that this kind of optimisation could be applied across the whole of a company's fleet, with tempting prospects for fleet managers.

For the Tesla boss, the city of the future will be able to function with a kind of " individualised public transport, with operating costs cut by a factor of five "and by the way turning car parks into parks ". As for the Uber driver, he will become " a manager of ten or twenty vehicles, like a shepherd looking after his flock (sic) ".

Cybercab production to start in 2026

Then Elon Musk got down to the nitty-gritty: the production of the Cybercab is due to start in 2026. In the meantime, unsupervised autonomous driving is due to be trialled in Texas and California from next year. The vehicle will operate on induction charging. What will be the range? No details yet. The Cybercab will not only have no steering wheel or pedals, but also no socket. The price is expected to be under 30,000 dollars. Just as we thought the presentation was drawing to a close, the truculent speaker was interrupted by another, as yet unidentified, rolling vehicle. A Robovan from which around twenty passengers proudly emerge - the maximum capacity of the vehicle, which is just as autonomous, but intended for groups or for transporting goods.

The highlight of the show was the parade of an army of robots. This new model, Optimus, is described as an "autonomous assistant" and a "humanoid friend". " So you can have your own R2D2/C3PO "says Elon Musk. For the modest sum of 20,000 euros, more or less in the long term. Assigned to the bar, the selfies and the dance floor at the end of the Tesla keynote, they won't have to take the wheel in the vehicle of tomorrow promised by Elon Musk.