Interface News Reporter | Wu Yangyu
On July 12th, according to Bloomberg, informed sources revealed that the Tesla Robotaxi design team was informed this week that certain elements would be modified. The company plans to postpone the release of the autonomous taxi Robotaxi to October, so that the project team has more time to manufacture more prototype vehicles.
This means a delay of two months. In April of this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on his owned X that the company would release the Tesla Robotaxi on August 8th.
Affected by this news, Tesla closed at $241.03 per share on July 11th Eastern Time, down 8.44%, ending the continuous upward trend of the past 11 trading days. During this period, Tesla's stock price has risen by over 44%.
The Tesla Robotaxi project was put on the agenda by Musk in 2016 and further refined in 2019. According to Musk, in the first phase, Robotaxi's business model will be similar to ride hailing and car sharing, with an average cost of less than $0.18 per mile. Owners who join the Robotaxi fleet can earn $30000 annually. In 2022, Musk once again stated that Robotaxi is expected to be mass-produced in 2024, with the steering wheel or pedals removed.
In the first quarter of this year, the management of the company announced that the Tesla Robotaxi, named "Cybercab," will be manufactured using an "unboxed" method. In addition to operating their own fleet, Tesla owners can also send their cars out to make money, similar to the combination of Airbnb and Uber.
This project also has potential impact on the Chinese Robotaxi market. On May 8th, according to China Daily, Tesla proposed to launch "Robotaxis" in China. The Chinese government may initially support its testing and demonstration domestically, but has not yet fully approved the full implementation of its FSD (Full Self Driving) in China.
In addition to achieving fully autonomous driving technology, the landing of Tesla Robotaxi and FSD in China also faces data supervision issues. Previously, Musk came to China and the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers announced that the cars of six companies, including Tesla, meet four compliance requirements for data security. This means that government agencies, some airports, and other no parking areas will gradually lift restrictions on Tesla vehicles.
There are also reports that Tesla will use the advanced assisted driving map provided by Baidu for the Chinese version of the FSD system, which will solve the map data problem that Tesla has been facing in landing autonomous driving in China.
In the Chinese market, the Robotaxi track has gathered players such as Baidu Carrot Run, Xiaoma Zhixing, and Wenyuan Zhixing. Among them, Carrot Run has deployed 400 autonomous vehicles in Wuhan. If Tesla continues to enter, in addition to catching up in terms of fleet size in individual cities, it will also need to deal with procedural issues related to the commercialization of autonomous driving travel services by local governments.
Morgan Stanley maintained its optimistic outlook for Tesla in a research report in April this year, stating that the launch of Robotaxi symbolizes Tesla's business model shifting towards hardcore AI and robotics technology. The agency predicts that by 2030, Tesla's mobile travel business revenue will reach $17 billion, directly driving the growth of total revenue.