Elon's electric dreams
For some, Elon Musk's big robotaxi reveal was an exciting glimpse into the future. For others, it was a distraction from Tesla's issues in its core business.
For fans of a blurry glimpse at a singular vision of the future, today’s Tesla presentation delivered in spades. For those with an interest in harder business reality, there are still plenty of questions.
Following a fashionably late start, CEO Elon Musk revealed the company’s long-awaited driverless robotaxi, the Cybercab, which he said will spend all day ferrying riders around and earning money for its owner, completely reshaping our cities in the process. Then came a chunkier version called the Robovan and an update on Optimus, the company’s attempt at making a humanoid robot.
As is often the case with Tesla keynotes, it was highly vibes-based and light on concrete detail.
Musk, who has an idiosyncratic presenting style where he sketches out how “cool” and “sick” various new product lines will eventually be — while remaining deliberately vague on cost, features and release dates — was in fine form here. He tossed out a few near future release dates — 2025, 2026, before 2027 — while admitting that he can be overly ambitious when it comes to timelines.
