Tesla plans to unveil Robotaxi on 10 October

Elon Musk caused a stir a few months ago when he announced that the Robotaxi would be unveiled on 8 August. The project was later postponed - now a new date for the premiere has been set. Tesla has also commented on the more affordable 'next gen vehicles.'

Tesla simply changed the date from 8/8 to 10/10. The carmaker announced the new date during the conference call following the presentation of the Q2/2024 financial figures. A few weeks ago, Bloomberg reported that the premiere scheduled for August had been postponed because Musk requested changes and developers had to build new prototypes. Musk later confirmed the postponement, but did not give a new time frame.

The Tesla CEO also stated that the delay would allow the carmaker to “show off a few other things.” However, he was not more specific. Although Tesla is working on a vehicle designed from the ground up as a self-driving car with the Robotaxi, Musk emphasised that the promised autonomous driving functions will still be brought into the existing models via software updates.

Little is still known about the vehicle itself – apart from the fact that it will have no pedals and no steering wheel. According to reports, the design could resemble the Cybertruck, but this has yet to be confirmed. The vehicle itself will be manufactured using the new ‘Unboxing’ process, which basically means it will be built from the inside out. That should reduce costs.

The ‘unboxing’ process was initially intended to build the 25,000-dollar entry-level model, but the latter was discontinued in favour of the Robotaxi. Tesla is sticking to its plan to launch two cheaper models on the market. However, it will not be a 25,000-dollar model with a revolutionary production process – but rather slimmed-down versions of the Model 3 and Model Y.

Tesla also provided an update on that. “Plans for new vehicles, including more affordable models, remain on track for start of production in the first half of 2025,” Tesla said. Previously, there was talk of the second half of 2025. However, there are still no details about the vehicles.

Tesla will also optimise production to reduce costs. With this strategy, the manufacturer wants to increase the production facilities currently available in the plants to three million units per year. With the figures for the individual plants that Tesla stated in the Q2 annual report, the company currently has a capacity of 2.35 million cars.

electrek.co, insideevs.com (both Robotaxi), electrek.co (cheaper models)