Tesla plans to show off its new robotaxi product to the world on October 10 at the Warner Bros. movie studio lot in Burbank, California, according to a new report from Bloomberg Friday, citing “people familiar with the matter.” The event was originally scheduled for August 8 but was pushed back by Elon Musk for unknown reasons, leading many to speculate about how far along his mystery product really is.
Musk first announced the robotaxi event for August shortly after Reuters reported back in April that Tesla was scrapping plans to build a long-anticipated low-cost electric car. Musk initially denied that report but subsequent reporting seems to confirm it’s accurate.
Musk then announced on the same day in April that he was going to unveil a robotaxi in the near future, a common tactic used by the Tesla CEO to divert attention from bad news. Fans of the billionaire tech mogul ate it up but were understandably disappointed when Musk decided to push the event until October. The car company reportedly needed, “more time to create prototypes to demonstrate,” the capabilities, according to Bloomberg.
Musk has made numerous promises that completely autonomous driving is just over the horizon, but people have been waiting quite a while now for that to happen.
“Functionality still looking good for this year. Regulatory approval is the big unknown,” Musk tweeted in April 2020 about Tesla robotaxis.
And on some level, autonomous cars are already here. The problem, of course, is meeting safety standards that minimize the number of adverse incidents on the road. You’ve surely seen plenty of videos on social media by now where Tesla cars in what’s been historically called “Full Self-Driving” have pulled very dangerous maneuvers.
It’s not clear why Tesla is holding the event at a movie studio and neither Tesla nor Warner Bros. responded to questions email on Friday. Tesla abolished its media relations department a few years ago, so frankly we’re not expecting to hear from anyone there. But it’s interesting that Warner Bros. would be so willing to hitch its wagon to a politically polarizing figure like Musk.
Before the Trump era, Musk was widely seen in the popular imagination as a forward-thinking individualist simply creating interesting technologies, even if the reality was much more complicated. But here in 2024, Musk is a hyperpartisan hack who’s openly endorsed Trump. That’s not typically the kind of thing the makers of any mainstream product, especially movies and entertainment, would want to have associated with their company.
It looks like we’ll get to see in October, though. Provided Musk doesn’t push it back yet again.
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