Tesla Cybertruck

The Tesla CYBERCAB

The Robo Taxi holds a significant place in Elon Musk's heart. Musk has long believed that the autonomous Robo taxi will revolutionize transportation. He envisions a safer, more efficient, and more affordable way for people to travel from point A to point B. Tesla is set to unveil its most ambitious vehicle yet, the Digital Taxi. This autonomous vehicle will be exclusively used as a Tesla taxi and will serve as the foundation for a new ride-hailing business division for Tesla. These vehicles will not be available for purchase by individual customers. They will be used exclusively by Tesla and potentially by third-party taxi fleets in the future, pending a significant increase in production capacity. It's important to note that the Digital Taxi should not be confused with the long-awaited affordable $25,000 vehicle for consumers. These are two distinct vehicles with different purposes, but both will be based on the same advanced vehicle platform that Tesla will introduce soon.

It all comes down to the question of necessity. Elon Musk has prioritized the robot-taxi venture over developing affordable vehicles. Therefore, the $25k Tesla should be put on hold until after the development of the Digital taxi. The Digital taxi is expected to be a two-seater vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals, as shown in recent Tesla videos and photos revealed in Walter Isaacson's new book about Elon Musk. The Digital taxi's development focuses on providing a comfortable passenger experience with personalized settings accessible through a central display, rather than on high performance and impressive specifications. In his biography of Elon Musk, Walter Isaacson shed light on the process of developing an affordable vehicle model and the robot taxi. Musk was particularly interested in self-driving vehicles and saw the robot taxi as the inevitable future, aiming to accelerate its progress. He gathered a team of his top five lieutenants in Austin to brainstorm the future of robo-taxis. The team, consisting of Franz von Holzhausen, Drew Baglino, Lars Moravy, Zach Kirkhorn, and Omead Afshar, concluded that the robot taxi should be a smaller, less expensive, and slower vehicle compared to the Model 3.

 "Our main focus should be volume," Musk emphasized. "There is no amount that we could build that will be enough. Eventually, we want to be at 20 million per year." Over many weeks, the team deliberated on various details, considering numerous potential options. They carefully considered all aspects, including designing a vehicle without traditional driving controls that could meet government safety regulations and handle various situations. For example, they contemplated how the vehicle could enter a gated community or a parking garage. One idea was to equip the robot taxi with a robotic hand to press a button to get a ticket. However, they decided to avoid places where the vehicle could easily collide simply. Throughout the development of the robot taxi, the company faced a critical question: should they build a vehicle with traditional controls, such as a steering wheel, pedals, side mirrors, and other items required by regulations, or should they build a truly autonomous vehicle, leaving nothing to chance?

During a critical meeting in the summer of 2022, Tesla's top company leaders discussed the issue of developing vehicles for full self-driving capability. Tesla's chief designer, von Holzhausen, proposed creating a vehicle with a removable steering wheel to enable a quick transition to producing autonomous robo-taxis. However, Elon Musk disagreed and insisted on developing a vehicle that would be 100 percent driverless from the beginning. Despite Musk's strong stance, the executives decided to revisit the issue later. In pre-fall 2022, von Holzhausen and Moravy continued to push Musk to reconsider his decision. They emphasized that even if self-driving vehicles were approved in the US, it would take a long time before they were approved internationally. Despite facing rejection from Musk, von Holzhausen continued with a secret project to develop a cost-effective vehicle model. Following the unveiling of the Optimus in September 2022, a secret meeting took place with Musk where data was presented to illustrate the necessity of developing a cost-effective compact car for the company's growth. It was also highlighted that the same platform and production lines could be used to produce both robo-taxis and a cost-effective compact vehicle.