Tesla's robotaxi is displayed at an unveiling event in Los Angeles, California, on October 10, in this still image taken from a video. (Tesla / Reuters via CNN Newsource)
Share
New York -
Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled on Thursday his vision of a “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, 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 a larger group of people or items.
The designs were heavy on a metallic, shiny sci-fi aesthetic of the future. Musk himself even 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.
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.”
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 forthe 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 Thursday 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. And he also unveiled the Cybercab, a vehicle without steering wheel or accelerator or brake pedals which is specifically designed to carry passengers without a driver present, which he said should be in production by 2026.
“It’ll be like sitting in a comfortable little lounge,” he said. “Yeah, it’s going to be awesome.”
He said the Robocab, unlike other electric vehicles, would have no plug but would be charged by driving over a charging plate. And he also showed a larger vehicle that he said could carry up to 20 passengers or goods, which he called a “Robovan,” although he gave no timeframe for the introduction of that vehicle.
Musk said that in addition to Tesla selling rides in its own fleet of self-driving robotaxis, the robotaxis would lower the cost of ownership for Tesla buyers because they’ll be able to rent their cars out for rides when not driving themselves by using Tesla’s service to arrange the rides.
The planned robotaxi service would not only compete with services from Uber and Lyft that use human drivers but with other driverless services now being tested by companies like Google’s Waymo. In fact, those other driverless robotaxi services are already well ahead of Tesla’s planned offering, said tech journalist and CNN contributor Kara Swisher, who called the Tesla robovan design “a lovely toaster on wheels.”
“I ride the Waymo (service) every time I go into San Francisco for a long time now,” Swisher told CNN late Thursday after the event. “They’ve driven millions of miles. Elon has just been talking about it. I would like to see him deploy something on the road. I’m very excited about autonomous vehicles. But he’s been promising them forever while others have delivered.”
“This is typical of him,” she said. “He makes a giant announcement, and then you see nothing. He’s done amazing things, and I think that’s part of this. But in this case, there is stuff on the road right now that’s working by Google and by Amazon and others.”
'Overly optimistic'
Musk has insisted that the company’s data shows that the current version of FSD that requires a driver to supervise the ride is already safer than cars driven by humans. But others who have tested that feature question whether that is true. One independent testing service, AMCI Testing, found that drivers needed to take control every 13 miles on average.
This is certainly not the first time that Musk has laid out ambitious time frames for his plans for self-driving cars. In a July call with investors, Musk said he expected to have “unsupervised (driving) possibly by the end of this year,” adding “I would be shocked if we cannot do it next year.”
But he also conceded, “obviously my predictions on this have been overly optimistic in the past.”
“I’m the boy who cried FSD. But I think we’ll be better than humans by the end of this year,” he said in a call with investors in July 2023, before adding: “I’ve been wrong in the past. I may be wrong this time.”
And even some analysts who believe that Tesla will eventually come up with the technology needed to have driverless vehicles carrying passengers believe that achievement is at least several years into the future.
“We’re looking at disengagements at 3 per cent of miles driven,” said Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, about the number of times that a human driver needs to take control, in an interview with CNN earlier this week.
“While 97 per cent of the way there sounds close, it’s not even close. It has to be well above 99 per cent. And to go from 95 or 97 per cent to 99 per cent is really hard. And then there’s the question of how many 9’s the regulators will want to see. Is it 99.9 per cent, 99.999 per cent?” he added.
“I think it’ll take two years to get the technology right,” Munster said. “And two to three more years to get the needed regulatory approval.”
As for Musk’s promise that the Cybercab would be available within two years, Munster pointed out that the Cybertruck pickup took about 48 months from reveal to production, and some other vehicles, including an electric semi truck, have gone more than six years since their reveal and are still not in production.
“Looking at the more recent history of product announcements and measuring the time it took to ramp production should remind investors that patience is a virtue,” he said.
Lawyers for an alleged high-ranking member of the Italian Mafia in Toronto claim evidence is being used against him that is the product of foreign interference by Italian police.
Televisions that measure 97 inches (and more) diagonally across – a.k.a. XXL TVs – are becoming a huge hit as the cost of giant screens sinks sharply, and viewers look to replace the screens they bought during the peak of the pandemic a few years ago.
The agreed statement of facts was read to the court on Friday in the case of Alex Williams, the 24-year-old jail guard charged last fall with smuggling cannabis and tobacco into Central North Correctional Centre in Penetanguishene.
As I see other generations of music lovers say music was so much better when they were younger, I wondered why. We can’t all be right — or maybe we are? I talked to experts in how music influences our brains to find out.
A congestion crisis, a traffic nightmare, or unrelenting gridlock -- whatever you call it, most agree that Toronto has a congestion problem. To alleviate some of the gridlock, the Ontario government has announced it plans to remove bike lanes from three major roadways.
Lawyers for an alleged high-ranking member of the Italian Mafia in Toronto claim evidence is being used against him that is the product of foreign interference by Italian police.
The agreed statement of facts was read to the court on Friday in the case of Alex Williams, the 24-year-old jail guard charged last fall with smuggling cannabis and tobacco into Central North Correctional Centre in Penetanguishene.
In 1916, Harold Wrong plucked a flower from the fields of Somme, France and tucked it into a letter he mailed home to Toronto. For decades, the type of flower sent remained a mystery.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans' fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Though two states have yet to be officially called, the U.S. election map has mostly been settled. How does it compare with the previous two elections?
A suicide bomber blew himself up at a train station in restive southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 24 people, including soldiers and railway staff, and wounding about 50 others, some critically, officials said.
The U.S. Justice Department on Friday disclosed an Iranian murder-for-hire plot to kill Donald Trump, charging a man who said he had been tasked by a government official before this week's election with planning the assassination of the Republican president-elect.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada says the government held a briefing with unions on Thursday to discuss the 'Refocusing Government Spending Initiative." PSAC says, "without prior consultation, the government unilaterally announced their plans to cut costs across the federal public service."
The Supreme Court may have succeeded in sidestepping the request from Droits collectifs Québec (DCQ), which had dragged its registrar before the Federal Court to compel the translation into French of some 6,000 decisions made before 1969 that were only available in English.
A move by Quebec to allow a person with a serious and incurable illness like Alzheimer's to request MAID months or years before their condition leaves them unable to consent has been met with praise, confusion and criticism.
Hundreds of people will lose access to supervised consumption sites in Toronto when the province closes five of them next year, which will likely mean more public drug use and more overdoses, a new study suggests.
In 1916, Harold Wrong plucked a flower from the fields of Somme, France and tucked it into a letter he mailed home to Toronto. For decades, the type of flower sent remained a mystery.
As I see other generations of music lovers say music was so much better when they were younger, I wondered why. We can’t all be right — or maybe we are? I talked to experts in how music influences our brains to find out.
'Saturday Night Live' is likely to strike a new tone as it looks toward a second term for Donald Trump in its first episode since his election victory.
Televisions that measure 97 inches (and more) diagonally across – a.k.a. XXL TVs – are becoming a huge hit as the cost of giant screens sinks sharply, and viewers look to replace the screens they bought during the peak of the pandemic a few years ago.
Canada added lower-than-expected 14,500 jobs in October and wages of permanent employees rose, data showed on Friday, as the economy grappled to absorb the slack built up due to a rapidly rising population amid an overheated market.
A young family from Codroy Valley, N.L., is happy to be on land and resting with their newborn daughter, Miley, after an overwhelming, yet exciting experience at sea.
Two suspects accused of selling stolen cars while employed at a legitimate car dealership in Toronto are now facing a combined 176 charges, police say.
A young family from Codroy Valley, N.L., is happy to be on land and resting with their newborn daughter, Miley, after an overwhelming, yet exciting experience at sea.
A Vancouver artist whose streetside singing led to a chance encounter with one of the world's biggest musicians is encouraging aspiring performers to try their hand at busking.
A Windsor teen’s social media post showing off a distinctive Windsor pizza topping has gone viral, drawing millions of views worldwide and sparking new curiosity about Windsor-style pizza.
Auston Matthews has come face to face with his look-alike. On Thursday, the Maple Leafs star met seven-year-old Grayson Joseph, who went viral for dressing up as an Auston Matthews hockey card.
Families faced frustratingly long waits Friday trying to score tickets to the upcoming Bright Nights holiday train in Stanley Park, as a massive influx of would-be buyers overwhelmed the ticketing website.
The B.C. New Democrats have a majority government of 47 seats after a judicial recount in the riding of Surrey-Guildford gave the party's candidate 22 more votes than the provincial Conservatives.
Lawyers for an alleged high-ranking member of the Italian Mafia in Toronto claim evidence is being used against him that is the product of foreign interference by Italian police.
The residents of Harvie Heights got a shock last weekend when the most famous bear in the Bow Valley, Bear 122, aka 'The Boss,' came looking for crab apples.
A petition calling on the City of Ottawa to re-evaluate a decision to include a site in Kanata as a possible location for temporary housing for asylum seekers has quickly gained attention.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada says the government held a briefing with unions on Thursday to discuss the 'Refocusing Government Spending Initiative." PSAC says, "without prior consultation, the government unilaterally announced their plans to cut costs across the federal public service."
The Supreme Court may have succeeded in sidestepping the request from Droits collectifs Québec (DCQ), which had dragged its registrar before the Federal Court to compel the translation into French of some 6,000 decisions made before 1969 that were only available in English.
An elementary school in the Halifax area has backed away from a request that service members not wear uniforms to the school's Remembrance Day ceremony.
Advocates are warning Manitoba’s most vulnerable children are being failed by a system meant to protect them – failures they say have been laid bare by recent deaths in the province.
A 44-year-old Grand Coulee, Sask. man is facing child pornography charges following an investigation by the Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit.
Denis Grandbois, an inmate at the Regional Psychiatric Centre, died of “apparent natural causes” on Thursday, according to a statement from the Correctional Service of Canada.
As questions loom over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership, a new Nanos Research poll commissioned for CTV News says a quarter of Canadians say none of the potential candidates appeal to them.
Mayors of the five largest cities in northern Ontario met in North Bay the last two days to discuss a range of critical issues impacting their cities and the region.
Remembrance Day is Monday, and CTV London will be streaming local ceremonies live online, but there are also some road closures to facilitate the parade.
The agreed statement of facts was read to the court on Friday in the case of Alex Williams, the 24-year-old jail guard charged last fall with smuggling cannabis and tobacco into Central North Correctional Centre in Penetanguishene.
The B.C. New Democrats have a majority government of 47 seats after a judicial recount in the riding of Surrey-Guildford gave the party's candidate 22 more votes than the provincial Conservatives.
Large sections of provincial parks in southern British Columbia remain closed after recent heavy rain and wind storms that caused flooding and damaged trails, campsites and roads.
Police in Kamloops, B.C., are reminding parents and guardians to check their children's Halloween candy after receiving a report of a mother finding a razor blade in one of her daughter's treats.
More than two years after Alannah Brown and Douglas Barker were found dead north of Penticton, police are asking for help identifying a vehicle they believe was associated with the crime.
The City of Lethbridge is hosting a pair of Remembrance Day ceremonies on Monday to honour those who have served and continue to fight for our freedom.
Mayors of the five largest cities in northern Ontario met in North Bay the last two days to discuss a range of critical issues impacting their cities and the region.
Residents in the Sault expressed concerns ranging from vandalism to privacy invasions during recent consultations on the city's plan to install automated speed enforcement cameras.
A Memorial University scientist says the mysterious white blobs washing up on Newfoundland beaches are actually gobs of plastic -- and they need to be cleaned up.
School staff are being struck more often, students are fighting more frequently, and police are increasingly being called to school grounds, according to data compiled and released this week by the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association.
Newfoundland and Labrador's auditor general has issued a warning about the province's financial position as the government announced it would finish the 2024-25 fiscal year with a higher-than-expected deficit.