According to Tesla's official Weibo account on September 26th, Tesla (TSLA, stock price: $257.02, market value: $821.99 billion) announced the release of Robotaxi on October 11th Beijing time. Stay tuned.
On September 26th, Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted a blog post on Weibo, stating, "This will be one for the history books.
On July 11th local time, Bloomberg reported that Tesla's planned RoboTaxi launch event in August has been postponed to October to allow the project team more time to manufacture more prototype cars and conduct testing. The design team was previously 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 Daily Economic News reporter noticed that the Robotaxi project was put on Musk's agenda 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, Robotaxi's operating cost advantage is prominent, 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, 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 operates independently. Tesla owners can also 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.
On July 24th Beijing time, Tesla released its Q2 2024 financial report.
According to the financial report, Tesla's total revenue for the second quarter was $25.5 billion, an increase of 2% compared to the same period last year; The net profit was 1.478 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 45%.
Tesla Financial Report
At the same time as announcing the second quarter financial report, Tesla CEO Musk also revealed some latest developments in the company's business during the earnings conference call. For example, Tesla may obtain Full Self Driving (FSD) licenses in other markets such as Europe and China by the end of this year. Regarding this, a reporter from the Daily Economic News further verified with Tesla China staff, who responded, "At present, it seems that the boss (referring to Musk) said so, but the specific time is still unclear
Regarding the entry of Tesla FSD into China, Zhu Xichan, a professor at the School of Automotive Engineering and director of the Institute of Automotive Safety Technology at Tongji University, believes that "China's intelligent driving revolution has reached a breakthrough moment, and the entry of Tesla FSD as a 'catfish' is needed to promote the development of China's intelligent driving industry
As of September 25th local time, Tesla was reported at $257.02, an increase of 1.08%, with a market value of $821.99 billion.
Daily Economic News: Comprehensive Tesla official Weibo, Musk Weibo, Daily Economic News (reporters: Lan Suying, Dong Tianyi), public information
Disclaimer: The content and data in this article are for reference only and do not constitute investment advice. Please verify before use. Based on this operation, the risk is borne by oneself.
