2024-04-07 07:52:17
Tesla wants to introduce its self-driving robotaxi in the summer. The vehicle is supposed to be based on new technology, but the project raises concerns.
The US electric car company Tesla wants to shape the future of mobility with self-driving robotaxis. Tesla boss Elon Musk announced on Friday (local time) on the online service X that the autonomous robotaxi would be presented on August 8th.
Musk is optimistic about the potential of self-driving electric cars. In particular, he highlights the FSD (Full Self-Driving) autopilot system, which is intended to make it possible to use unused vehicles as robotaxis.
“Most people still have no idea how terribly good Tesla’s FSD is going to be,” Musk emphasized on X in March. The Autopilot system will be “super human, to such an extent that it will seem strange in the future “that people drove cars even when they were exhausted and drunk”.
Accidents and vandalism among competitors
However, the vision of streets full of robotaxis is not only met with love. In San Francisco, a test area for the new technology, robotaxis from the Google subsidiary Waymo were repeatedly victims of vandalism. The self-driving taxis from the car company GM also had to stop operating until further notice after several accidents.
The company also recently had to announce a decline in its sales figures: In the first quarter, the number of global deliveries of Tesla vehicles fell by 8.5 percent – mainly due to weak demand in China.