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Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Unveil Robotaxi in August

Elon Musk says Tesla will unveil its robotaxis on August 8, 2024. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP/File
Elon Musk says Tesla will unveil its robotaxis on August 8, 2024. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP/File
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Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Unveil Robotaxi in August

Elon Musk says Tesla will unveil its robotaxis on August 8, 2024. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP/File
Elon Musk says Tesla will unveil its robotaxis on August 8, 2024. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP/File

Elon Musk revealed Friday that Tesla will pull back the curtain on a robotaxi this summer, news that comes as adoption of self-driving vehicles hits speed bumps over safety concerns.
The billionaire boss of the electric car maker did not provide details, saying only in his post on X that the "Tesla Robotaxi unveil" will come on August 8.
Tesla shares rose more than three percent in after-market trades following the post, after finishing the day down, AFP said.
Musk has long boasted of work Tesla is doing on its systems for electric cars to drive themselves.
Tesla models with FSD (Full Self-Driving) "will be superhuman to such a degree that it will seem strange in the future that humans drove cars, even while exhausted and drunk!" he said in a post on X in March.
Musk has also said that owners of Tesla vehicles with FSD will be able to have their cars serve as robotaxis, rather than remain idly parked.
Despite its potential, rollout of self-driving vehicles in the United States has been tentative and rocky so far as both regulators and the public voice safety concerns.
San Francisco has been a testing ground for the technology.
Robotaxis from Google's Waymo in the city have been targeted by vandals opposed to autonomous vehicles, while GM-owned Cruise indefinitely suspended its robotaxi service at the end of October after several accidents sparked a crackdown by California regulators.
Tesla's "autopilot" feature has also come under scrutiny, facing accusations the marketing of the feature oversold its actual capabilities.
Tesla's robotaxi reveal came on the heels of a Reuters report that the company had abandoned Musk's long-touted plan to manufacture an electric car model selling close to $25,000 to drive adoption in the mass market.
Musk fired off a post denying the report.
Tesla this week reported sharply lower first-quarter auto sales amid an underwhelming demand outlook for electric vehicles, while legacy players including Toyota rode improved US inventories to higher sales.
Musk's auto giant reported global deliveries fell 8.5 percent in the quarter, reflecting in part a weak sales market in China, where it faces heavy competition from local electric vehicle makers.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives called the quarterly results "an unmitigated disaster."

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New Car Sales in Spain Surpass Million-mark, Sector Facing Tough 2025

An aerial view shows new vehicles parked at the port in Barcelona, Spain, December 7, 2024. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
An aerial view shows new vehicles parked at the port in Barcelona, Spain, December 7, 2024. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
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New Car Sales in Spain Surpass Million-mark, Sector Facing Tough 2025

An aerial view shows new vehicles parked at the port in Barcelona, Spain, December 7, 2024. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
An aerial view shows new vehicles parked at the port in Barcelona, Spain, December 7, 2024. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo

New car sales in Spain surpassed the one million mark in 2024 for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed on Thursday, but analysts and industry sources said this should not be seen as a sign of recovery in a sector facing a tough 2025.

Changing trends in car usage, high prices, uncertainty around electric vehicles (EVs) and fierce competition from Chinese brands are all expected to create challenges for the auto industry in Spain, said Felipe Munoz, an analyst at market research firm JATO Dynamics.

New car sales in 2019 reached well over 1.3 million, but then slumped to around 900,000 annually for the next four years. Though 2024's 1.02 million sales represent a 7.1% increase year-on-year, they are still far below the original trend, Reuters reported.

Last year's rise was helped by a massive 28.8% spike in year-on-year sales in December, the data showed.

Munoz said the uptick seemed transitory, as new car sales had failed to properly take off after the pandemic clobbered demand, adding: "I don't think (the Spanish car market) will ever hit those numbers again."

According to Munoz, after the semiconductor scarcity crisis, European car manufacturers focused on increasing their prices at the cost of selling fewer units - and still made record profits.

"That strategy worked perfectly for them until this year, when Chinese brands started to penetrate the market more successfully in Europe, and they realised their prices were too high in comparison," he added.

Spanish car part manufacturer Gestamp was less affected by a drop in car sales in Spain and Europe due to its geographic diversification, CFO Ignacio Mosquera said, but more had to be done to help an ailing sector that lacked a clear policy in "one of the most important industry overhauls in history".

"If there's no public-private partnership, there's uncertainty in demand and people don't know which vehicle to buy. Faced with that decision, what do they do? They extend the life of their vehicle," Mosquera said - thus reducing sales.

Echoing that sentiment, the head of Spanish car part manufacturers' association Sernauto, Jose Portilla, said more state support was needed to encourage the sale of EVs.

"If we're able to boost the recharging infrastructure, EVs become more affordable, and the subsidies are given at the time of purchase instead of one-and-a-half or two years later. This will encourage the market much more and we'll be able to redirect this situation," Portilla added.