Just as Robotaxi has become a global internet celebrity concept, Tesla, as a pioneer in fully autonomous driving technology, has to face difficulties in producing its Robotaxi products.
On July 23rd, Tesla's Q2 earnings call, as always, attracted the attention of the entire Wall Street and even global financial markets. Just a week ago, the media reported that the Tesla Robotaxi, originally scheduled to be released on August 8th, would be postponed to October.
During the conference call, Tesla management admitted to postponing the release date of the Tesla Robotaxi to October 10th - but at the same time, Tesla executives, including Elon Musk, remained secretive about the reasons for the delay and questions about the delayed release of the Robotaxi.
August 8th is a traditional auspicious number in China, which also marks the birthday of Elon Musk's twin daughters - this is why Musk personally confirmed that he chose this date to release Tesla Robotaxi. So, what are the reasons that prompted Musk to give up releasing Robotaxi on "Lucky Day"?
Regulatory challenges
Since Tesla officially announced the upcoming release of Robotaxi in April this year, the design scheme of this model has been a focus of public attention.
In May, Tesla officially released a teaser video for Robotaxi. Although the video provides some interesting details, such as the front bumper design resembling Tesla's Cybertruck pickup truck, as well as the integrated seats and display screen inside the car.
But the most important thing is still the core design idea that Tesla Robotaxis does not have pedals and steering wheels and is completely controlled by the auto drive system.
Subsequently, a series of Tesla Robotaxi design concept images frequently appeared on social media, but it was proven that they were not officially released by Tesla.
At the conference call, Tesla first confirmed the news of the delayed release of Robotaxi and announced that Robotaxi will be produced at its Texas factory in the future.
But the attending investors are more concerned that even if Tesla Robotaxi is released, its design without steering wheel and pedals will be difficult to fully hit the road in the United States.
We believe that one of the barriers to the release of Robotaxi lies in whether the regulatory authorities approve it. Can the management discuss which laws and regulations we should focus on, such as the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS)? "A Barclays bank analyst questioned," Will Tesla consider the differences between different states in the United States and promote the implementation of Robotaxi state by state
And Musk's response still has the characteristic of his grandiose words.
What we are adopting is more like a universal solution. If tailored to local conditions, the situation will become very complex and the solution will be very fragile, "Musk said." Therefore, what we hope to adopt is a universal solution that is applicable to all countries, regions, and even different planets around the world, "Musk said.
However, Musk's response to questions about compliance with federal motor vehicle safety standards is significant.
As long as we can prove its safety, or at least far safer than humans, regulatory authorities will support it, "Musk said." If we can provide billions of miles of test data to prove that in the future, FSD is safer than human drivers without supervision, then no regulatory agency will stop this technology
20 million Robotaxis will be deployed
Even after Musk's grand statement, some investors still questioned the pedal free Robotaxi by citing news from Cruise, the autonomous driving business entity under General Motors.
On July 23rd, General Motors announced that it will focus on developing the next generation of autonomous vehicles, the Chevrolet Bolt, a more traditional new energy vehicle with various manual driving modules. The originally planned steering wheel free version of Origin will be indefinitely postponed.
Earlier, General Motors submitted a petition to the US vehicle management department in 2022, requesting permission to deploy 2500 Origin cars without pedals, steering wheels, and rearview mirrors annually. But so far, the relevant departments have not provided feedback on the application.
However, in Musk's view, General Motors and Cruise are just lacking in technology - and he said that if it were Tesla, they would definitely be able to do it.
In fact, at the level of fully autonomous vehicles on the road, the United States is not more open than China.
There are reports that Nuro is currently the only road autonomous vehicle approved by FMVSS, but the company has only deployed autonomous trucks.
On the other hand, Amazon's Zoox is also more aggressive in promoting Robotaxi. Its driverless modular vehicles conducted manned tests on the internal roads of the company's campus in February last year and officially opened on the roads of Las Vegas in June last year.
However, such testing has already been noticed and investigated by relevant vehicle regulatory agencies in the United States. Since then, Zoox's Robotaxi has not been released for road testing.
The largest Robotaxi operator in the United States currently comes from Waymo, a company that operates Robotaxis using traditional automotive architecture.
Can Tesla's Robotaxi, released on October 10th, become a pioneer in unmanned driving systems for Robotaxis in the United States? At least Musk still firmly believes.
We will soon build a fleet of approximately 7 million autonomous vehicles. In a few years, this number may exceed 10 million or even 20 million, "Musk continued with his bold words.
He also stated that Tesla Robotaxi will not only be operated through self owned vehicles, but consumers can also purchase Tesla Robotaxi and join any operating fleet to earn revenue - just like hanging their own homes on Airbnb.