Tesla held its Robotaxi occasion tonight to introduce a complete new automobile that may perform solely as a driverless automobile. However along with the Robotaxi, it additionally unveiled one other robo-vehicle – an autonomous van that can be utilized for both 20-person mass transit or for cargo hauling duties.
The “We, Robotic” occasion was primarily anticipated to deal with the upcoming 2-seat Robotaxi, with an anticipated replace on Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robotic.
We acquired updates on each of these, with Robotaxis shuttling passengers across the Warner Bros. backlot the place the occasion was held, and Optimus robots serving drinks and handing out goodie luggage to attendees.
However one other rumor was a few potential “Robovan.” We talked about this briefly earlier than the occasion in our Electrek watch get together, and there have been numerous rumors for years, with Tesla supposedly making a 12-passenger van for Boring Co. tunnels and seeing a leak of a peoplemover prototype in recent times.
And at present we noticed the primary glimpse of what the ultimate model would possibly really feel like, because it pulled up and emptied a number of occupants through the occasion.
We didn’t get a lot details about the van, besides that it is going to be able to carrying 20 individuals, or even be able to carrying cargo. The configuration we noticed was the people-carrying model, and Tesla has put up a number of images on its web site to see what the inside of the van would possibly appear to be.
These are simply the passenger configuration – we don’t have any images of the cargo configuration but. Though the passenger configuration appears to have important cargo house obtainable (this might definitely be helpful for one thing like an airport shuttle).
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the Robotaxi would be capable to get the price of transport all the way down to round 20 cents a mile, however that the Robovan would take that even additional, all the way down to 5-10 cents a mile.
A automobile like this may very well be helpful for shuttle routes that want frequent pickups (like airport or pupil shuttles), for municipalities that don’t have sufficient ridership for a standard 80-passenger bus, and naturally for metropolis last-mile supply in a cargo configuration.
Musk additionally repeated his line that “the longer term ought to appear to be the longer term,” which is definitely obvious within the design of the Robovan, which appears type of acquainted…
The design of the Robovan is definitely fairly out-there, however given Tesla’s historical past with out-there ideas, it would really come to fruition in a state considerably like this.
Nonetheless, I wouldn’t be stunned to see a change in floor clearance. It appears uncertain that the maybe ~1-2 inch floor clearance on the demo automobile shall be notably helpful on metropolis roads….
Not like the Robotaxi, Tesla didn’t share a launch date for the Robovan. Whereas Musk mentioned the Robotaxi can be obtainable within the subsequent two years, he gave no date for the Robovan.
Electrek’s Take
One factor that the Robotaxi has been criticized for is its variety of seats. Whereas 2 seats is sufficient for lots of driving duties, you’re not going to have the ability to carry a complete household, or a bunch of buddies, and so on.
And including a bunch of 2-seat automobiles to the street does nothing to cut back congestion, as a result of we’ll nonetheless find yourself with about the identical common automobile occupancy as we now have proper now – or possibly even much less occupancy since you wouldn’t have the occasional 3-5 particular person automobile. Which might even imply extra congestion.
However the Robovan provides the promise of having the ability to carry an precise important variety of individuals, and with its bigger capability, deadhead miles is likely to be decreased as nicely as a result of it might run hop-on hop-off routes.
I might definitely see this working on any variety of smaller shuttle routes that will profit from frequent pickups. There’s a summer season shuttle the place I grew up in California which simply runs individuals to and from the seaside to assist alleviate parking points, and this may be excellent for that. Or how in regards to the new electrical shuttles at Zion Nationwide Park.
However like each Tesla promise, this one must be taken with a grain of salt.
In spite of everything, Tesla plans to change the world in 6 large methods subsequent yr already (Robotaxi, Semi, an inexpensive EV, next-gen Roadster, unsupervised FSD, and Optimus), and now we now have yet one more unreleased product so as to add to that pile. And most of these current ones have been pushed again a number of occasions. I assume at the least Robovan can’t be pushed again, if it doesn’t have a date but to start with.
Tesla additionally confirmed a imaginative and prescient of the longer term it needs tonight, with parks taking the place of parking heaps in numerous city settings.
Which is all nicely and good, besides that the CEO who introduced this imaginative and prescient has not too long ago donated $180 million to a candidate who needs to hurt EVs, and who simply at present mentioned he would ban autonomous autos from the street if he wins. Odd horse to hitch your self to, actually.
As for the Robovan, we solely noticed it pull up and park, it didn’t shuttle individuals round through the night time, past the preliminary pul up. The Robotaxi was at the least driving individuals round, albeit in a closely mapped space at low speeds, relatively than in an actual world scenario with all of the sudden nonsense that comes up.
Humorous factor although, I really suppose the Robovan is likely to be extra doable than Robotaxi from an autonomy perspective, as a result of these kinds of autos usually tend to run a set route, and thus can have a extra restricted operational house which is simpler to program for. So it nearly looks like it might/ought to come before Robotaxi, which might want to primarily be SAE degree 5 succesful (whereas a set route would definitionally be degree 4).
And if it does occur (once more, massive grains of salt right here), the extra mass-transit-focused nature of that is extra thrilling to me than Robotaxi. We have now to chop congestion and sprawl, so having autos that may assist to allow that is fairly vital. For sure cities, the place subways or mild rail are unfeasible for no matter cause, a mid-size electrical shuttle like this may very well be a improbable technique to clear up the roads.
Now, let’s see if it ever occurs…..
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