Elon Musk unveils his 'Cybercab' robotaxi

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled on Thursday his vision of a “fun, exciting future,” an “age of abundance” full of his company’s self-driving cars without steering wheels, parking lots turned into parks and robots that will walk among the population — that he once again promised would be available within a few years.

Whether he can live up to these promises remains to be seen. Those plans, and the revelation of the designs for his robotaxis, came at a glitzy event in California, the U.S., full of the kind of hype that has built Tesla a dedicated fan base for its electric vehicles. The event featured models of the robotaxi as well as a Robovan, a driverless vehicle designed to carry up to 20 people or goods.

The designs were heavy on a metallic, shiny sci-fi aesthetic of the future. Musk himself referenced the classic science fiction movie “Blade Runner,” although he said he wanted his version of the coming years to be cheerier than that dystopian noir film. The Cybercab — which Musk also referred to as the “robotaxi” — is a two-door coupe that Musk claims will hit production before 2027 and will have a market price of under US$30,000.

Musk is famous for promising near-term targets that take years or more to reach. He had predicted five years ago that his fleet of robotaxis were only a year away. During his presentation at the Warner Bros. studio lot late Thursday, even he admitted: “I tend to be a little optimistic with time frames.”

Investors appeared unimpressed, given the company’s track record of failing to hit earlier timelines for true self-driving.

The event unveiling these products, which was livestreamed to millions of viewers on his social media platform X, began 53 minutes late. But the delay seemed to matter little to the in-person crowd waiting for the chance to ride in the 50 self-driving vehicles that were cruising around the studio lot. They continued to cheer Musk throughout his relatively short 20-minute presentation.

Tesla has long offered what it calls Full Self-Driving or FSD, currently priced at US$8,000, as an option on its cars. But despite its name, Tesla says drivers need to continue to sit in the driver’s seat, ready to take over control of the vehicle, even when in FSD mode. Musk said that Teslas with FSD would be able to operate wherever state regulators would allow without human intervention, predicting that would occur in California and Texas by next year. (SD-Agencies)

特斯拉公司首席执行官埃隆•马斯克周四描绘了一个“有趣、激动人心的未来”，一个“资源充裕的时代”，那时他的公司将生产没有方向盘的无人驾驶汽车，停车场变成了公园，机器人进入大众生活。他再次承诺，这些产品将在几年内面世。他能否兑现这些承诺还有待观察。

在美国加利福尼亚州的一场夺人眼球的活动上，马斯克公布了这些计划以及他的无人驾驶出租车。活动充满了炒作的意味，而正是这种炒作为特斯拉电动车赢得了一批忠实粉丝。活动上展示了无人驾驶出租车Cybercab和厢式货车Robovan，后者可运载多达 20 人或者货物。

这些设计充满了金属质感和闪亮的未来科幻美感。马斯克甚至提到了经典科幻电影《银翼杀手》，不过他说，希望自己描画的未来比那部反乌托邦黑色电影更好。

Cybercab是一款双门轿跑车，马斯克称这款车将在2027年前投产，市场售价低于3万美元。

马斯克此前承诺的近期目标总是需要数年或更长时间才能实现。五年前他曾预言一年内让无人驾驶出租车队落地。周四晚上，他在华纳兄弟摄影棚发表演讲时也承认：“我对时间表往往有点过于乐观。”

鉴于该公司未能如期实现全自动驾驶，投资者似乎并不看好特斯拉。

特斯拉在其社交媒体平台X上向数百万观众直播了这场发布会；活动延迟了53分钟才开始。但对于等待乘坐50 辆自动驾驶汽车在摄影棚附近巡游的现场观众来说，多等一会儿没什么。马斯克短短的 20 分钟演讲期间他们一直在欢呼。

长期以来，特斯拉一直提供所谓的“全自动驾驶”软件（FSD，目前售价8,000 美元）作为汽车的选装配置。但特斯拉表示驾驶员仍需坐在驾驶座上，随时准备接管对车辆的控制，即使在 FSD 模式下也是如此。马斯克周四表示，只要州监管机构允许，带有FSD功能的特斯拉汽车就可以在没有人工干预的情况下运行，预计到明年，加利福尼亚州和德克萨斯州将实现这一目标。(Translated by Debra)