There is time for everything. Between spreading conspiracy theories and dancing like a 53-year-old teenager at Donald Trump’s rallies, Elon Musk found a gap in his agenda on Thursday night to mend the long-unfulfilled promise of presenting his 100% autonomous Tesla prototype, without a steering wheel and without pedals, with which it will launch its robotaxi offer.
At the event, held in a Hollywood film studio, the splendor of the cybercab (cab, taxi in English) was displayed, as well as the unexpected robovan, a vehicle with capacity for twenty people.
One of the androids gave gifts, others tried to serve drinks and one played rock, paper, scissors
However, the big surprise came with some guests who stole all the plans. The Optimus burst into the Californian night , as the entrepreneur calls his humanoid robots, as if they had escaped from the set of star wars . A tweet from Tesla highlighted that similarity. “Optimus is your personal R2D2 o C3P0 (characters from the George Lucas saga) but better. It will also transform physical work in industrial environments,” the company said with that message.
A group of the latest version of these androids came onto the scene along with the robovan while in a video they were observed doing daily human tasks such as bringing a package from the doorway and watering the plants.
“The Optimus will walk among you,” predicts Elon Musk during the presentation of Tesla’s androids and robotaxis
“The Optimus will walk among you,” the host stressed to those who were present and to those who followed the event on the social network X. “You can go up to them and they will serve you drinks,” he added. Musk explained that they will be able to do basically “anything” and mentioned everything from “taking the dog for a walk, taking care of your children or mowing the lawn,” he noted.
“It will be the largest product of any kind ever created,” he boasted. “It will transform civilization,” he stressed.
Its price will be between 20,000 and 30,000 dollars, “in the long term.” Last April he assured that these robots could go on sale at the end of next year.
Optimus was mocked for its lack of seriousness when Musk unveiled the project in 2021. A man dressed as a robot did a dance that was described as stupid. But the company exhibited a rudimentary prototype in 2022 that walked cautiously across the stage.
The other night, and after the presentation, live images showed the androids interacting with people at the tables and in the crowd. They didn’t really do much more than say hello. There was a shelf with drinks, but the robots did nothing more than hold glasses of ice. It was noticed that one of the troops was handing out small gift bags and another was playing rock, paper, scissors with the guests. And there was a closed gazebo with a few people dancing to the rhythm of What is love South Haddaway.
His show slightly left aside the presentation of the cybercab, a two-door vehicle that opens upwards like butterfly wings, with a pair of seats and a starting price below $30,000. It will operate without supervision, which means it will require approval from regulators.
Their plan consists of a fleet of robotaxis in which vehicle owners will get the most out of their cars by providing them for this service while they sleep.
Musk did not offer a date for its availability. He only talked about that they can go into production before 2027. This lack of specificity had a clear reaction on Wall Street: disappointment. Tesla’s stock price plummeted and the company lost $50 billion in market value.