On Monday local time, Musk finally responded to the Robotaxi fare skipping incident, stating that Tesla will spend more time making some design changes to the vehicle. However, Musk did not provide a specific release time.
Under questioning from netizens, Musk responded on social media platforms on the same day, saying, "I am requesting important design changes to the front of Robotaxi. The extra time gained from the delayed release date will give the company the opportunity to showcase some other content
Social media screenshot
This also confirms the previous report by the Daily Economic News that Tesla has postponed the release of Robotaxi from August to October, and the design team has been informed to redesign certain elements of this taxi.
According to the Daily Economic News on July 13th, local time on July 11th, Bloomberg reported that Tesla has postponed the RoboTaxi launch event planned for August to October, so that the project team has more time to manufacture more prototype cars and conduct testing. According to informed sources, this decision has not been publicly announced yet, but internal communication has already taken place before. Last week, the design team was informed to redesign certain elements of the car. Tesla did not respond to media requests for comment on this news.
Musk has been brewing for at least 8 years about creating the Robotaxi service. The reporter noticed that the Robotaxi project was put on the agenda by Musk in 2016. The biography of Musk also mentions that Musk's grand vision is for Tesla to create a vehicle that can drive completely autonomously without any human intervention.
The most important driving factor for such a strong interest in Robotaxi is the expectation to seize the travel market with a lower cost advantage. Moreover, due to the fierce competition in the electric vehicle market, Tesla's competitiveness is also weakening, and betting on Robotaxi has become Musk's top choice. According to a research report by Huafu Securities, after calculation and comparison, it was found that Robotaxi has a prominent advantage in operating costs, with an operating cost of only 0.81 yuan per kilometer, saving 58% compared to traditional gasoline vehicles and 43% compared to traditional electric vehicles.
In fact, as of now, there are not many details about the Robotaxi project outside except for a release date. Earlier this year, Tesla management revealed that the company's Robotaxi is called "Cybercab" and its operating model is not only self operated, but also allows Tesla owners to send their cars out to make money, similar to the combination of Airbnb and Uber.
Although little is known about the details of Tesla's Robotaxi, the development of its fully autonomous driving (FSD) system may provide a glimpse into the development of its autonomous vehicle models, as the implementation of Robotaxi heavily relies on the performance and smoothness of FSD.
Tesla's FSD system has undergone years of evolution and has now been iterated to V12.4.3, which is being pushed to some customers in North America. FSD V12 is a brand new "end-to-end autonomous driving" system that fully utilizes neural networks for vehicle control. The arrival of FSD V12.4 marks the gradual elimination of the "hold the steering wheel" reminder in this system.
Data shows that Tesla's FSD has accumulated over 1 billion miles (approximately 1.6 billion kilometers) of driving distance in the past three years, and Musk has stated that it will soon exceed 10 billion miles. This means that the system may have been widely tested in various road conditions, traffic situations, and driving scenarios. Everbright Securities expects that FSD V12.5 and later versions will continue to significantly improve performance.
As of the close of the US stock market, Tesla (TSLA) closed at $252.64, up 1.78%, with a total market value of $805.7 billion.
It is worth mentioning that the large-scale increase in the number of vehicles operated by Baidu Carrot Run and the approaching breakeven point have turned the market's profit expectations for Robotaxi from negative to positive. Recently, Beijing and Shanghai have relaxed policies on intelligent connected taxis, and Robotaxi concept stocks have continued to heat up in the secondary market.
On July 15th, multiple concept stocks including Jinjiang Online, Volkswagen, Star Network Yuda, and Tianmai Technology issued stock trading abnormal announcements and warned of risks. Among them, Jinjiang Online and Star Network Yuda have achieved five consecutive board gains in a wave of market trends.
Daily Economic News Comprehensive Daily Economic News (Reporter: Lan Suying), Public Information
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