Tesla held its Robotaxi occasion tonight to introduce a complete new car that may perform solely as a driverless car. However along with the Robotaxi, it additionally unveiled one other robo-vehicle – an autonomous van that can be utilized for both 20-person mass transit or for cargo hauling duties.
The “We, Robotic” occasion was primarily anticipated to deal with the upcoming 2-seat Robotaxi, with an anticipated replace on Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robotic.
We obtained updates on each of these, with Robotaxis shuttling passengers across the Warner Bros. backlot the place the occasion was held, and Optimus robots serving drinks and handing out goodie luggage to attendees.
However one other rumor was a few potential “Robovan.” We talked about this briefly earlier than the occasion in our Electrek watch occasion, and there have been varied rumors for years, with Tesla supposedly making a 12-passenger van for Boring Co. tunnels and seeing a leak of a peoplemover prototype lately.
And immediately we noticed the primary glimpse of what the ultimate model would possibly really feel like, because it pulled up and emptied a number of occupants through the occasion.
We didn’t get a lot details about the van, besides that will probably be able to carrying 20 individuals, or even be able to carrying cargo. The configuration we noticed was the people-carrying model, and Tesla has put up a number of images on its web site to see what the inside of the van would possibly appear to be.
These are simply the passenger configuration – we don’t have any images of the cargo configuration but. Though the passenger configuration appears to be like to have vital cargo house out there (this might actually be helpful for one thing like an airport shuttle).
Tesla CEO Elon Musk acknowledged that the Robotaxi would have the ability to get the price of transport right down to round 20 cents a mile, however that the Robovan would take that even additional, right down to 5-10 cents a mile.
A car like this may very well be helpful for shuttle routes that want frequent pickups (like airport or pupil shuttles), for municipalities that don’t have sufficient ridership for a standard 80-passenger bus, and naturally for metropolis last-mile supply in a cargo configuration.
Musk additionally repeated his line that “the longer term ought to appear to be the longer term,” which is actually obvious within the design of the Robovan, which appears to be like form of acquainted…
The design of the Robovan is actually fairly out-there, however given Tesla’s historical past with out-there ideas, it’d really come to fruition in a state considerably like this.
Nonetheless, I wouldn’t be stunned to see a change in floor clearance. It appears uncertain that the maybe ~1-2 inch floor clearance on the demo car might be significantly helpful on metropolis roads….
In contrast to the Robotaxi, Tesla didn’t share a launch date for the Robovan. Whereas Musk stated the Robotaxi could be out there within the subsequent two years, he gave no date for the Robovan.
Electrek’s Take
One factor that the Robotaxi has been criticized for is its variety of seats. Whereas 2 seats is sufficient for lots of driving duties, you’re not going to have the ability to carry a complete household, or a bunch of associates, and many others.
And including a bunch of 2-seat automobiles to the highway does nothing to scale back congestion, as a result of we’ll nonetheless find yourself with about the identical common car occupancy as now we have proper now – or perhaps even much less occupancy since you wouldn’t have the occasional 3-5 particular person car. Which may even imply extra congestion.
However the Robovan presents the promise of having the ability to carry an precise vital variety of individuals, and with its bigger capability, deadhead miles could be diminished as effectively as a result of it may run hop-on hop-off routes.
I may actually see this working on any variety of smaller shuttle routes that will profit from frequent pickups. There’s a summer season shuttle the place I grew up in California which simply runs individuals to and from the seashore to assist alleviate parking points, and this could be good for that. Or how concerning the new electrical shuttles at Zion Nationwide Park.
However like each Tesla promise, this one must be taken with a grain of salt.
In spite of everything, Tesla plans to change the world in 6 enormous methods subsequent yr already (Robotaxi, Semi, an inexpensive EV, next-gen Roadster, unsupervised FSD, and Optimus), and now now we have yet one more unreleased product so as to add to that pile. And most of these current ones have been pushed again a number of instances. I suppose no less than Robovan can’t be pushed again, if it doesn’t have a date but to start with.
Tesla additionally confirmed a imaginative and prescient of the longer term it needs tonight, with parks taking the place of parking tons in varied city settings.
Which is all effectively and good, besides that the CEO who offered this imaginative and prescient has lately donated $180 million to a candidate who needs to hurt EVs, and who simply immediately stated he would ban autonomous autos from the highway if he wins. Odd horse to hitch your self to, actually.
As for the Robovan, we solely noticed it pull up and park, it didn’t shuttle individuals round through the night time, past the preliminary pul up. The Robotaxi was no less than driving individuals round, albeit in a closely mapped space at low speeds, relatively than in an actual world state of affairs with all of the surprising nonsense that comes up.
Humorous factor although, I really assume the Robovan could be extra potential than Robotaxi from an autonomy perspective, as a result of these kinds of autos usually tend to run a set route, and thus can have a extra restricted operational house which is simpler to program for. So it nearly looks like it may/ought to come ahead of Robotaxi, which might want to basically be SAE degree 5 succesful (whereas a set route would definitionally be degree 4).
And if it does occur (once more, large grains of salt right here), the extra mass-transit-focused nature of that is extra thrilling to me than Robotaxi. We now have to chop congestion and sprawl, so having autos that may assist to allow that is fairly vital. For sure cities, the place subways or mild rail are unfeasible for no matter motive, a mid-size electrical shuttle like this may very well be a incredible strategy to clear up the roads.
Now, let’s see if it ever occurs…..
FTC: We use earnings incomes auto affiliate hyperlinks. Extra.
