On September 26th, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the Tesla Robotaxi autonomous taxi will be released on October 10th California time (October 11th Beijing time). This will be one for the history books. Musk stated on social media.
Sina Weibo (@ ElonMusk)
According to previous reports, Tesla's Robotaxi was originally scheduled to be released on August 8, 2024. However, Musk announced at Tesla's Q2 earnings conference that the Robotaxi will be delayed until October 10. It is reported that the Tesla Robotaxi launch event will be held at Warner Bros. 'film studio in the Los Angeles area.
Based on the above news, a reporter from the Daily Economic News contacted Tesla China to inquire, and a staff member responded that "a heavyweight product release is expected on October 10th". Regarding whether Tesla Robotaxi will enter China, the other party stated that there is currently no relevant news.
Robotaxi is expected to be equipped with FSD technology
According to spy photos currently posted on social media, the Tesla Robotaxi may be a small two door, two seater vehicle with the same long taillights as the Cybertruck, and may have features such as automatic charging, automatic disinfection, and fleet management.
According to previous reports, the model is expected to be equipped with Tesla's latest fully autonomous driving (FSD) technology. It is worth mentioning that the raised top of the vehicle in the spy photos may indicate the installation of LiDAR or other sensors. Although Tesla has had reservations about LiDAR technology in the past, from the spy photos, Tesla may be re evaluating the installation of LiDAR.
In terms of operational model, Musk has proposed that in the future, car owners can add their Tesla cars to a shared fleet to earn income when not in use, similar to the combination of Airbnb and Uber. Musk also predicted that with the release of the fully autonomous vehicle without supervision, buses may become unnecessary, because Tesla can provide travel services with costs close to buses.
Currently, Musk has confirmed that Robotaxi will be produced at the Texas Gigafactory and will adopt a new "box free" manufacturing strategy, which is expected to reduce production costs by half and reduce factory footprint by 40%. Regarding the deployment time of Robotaxi, Musk stated during Tesla's Q2 earnings conference call that it could be by the end of this year, at the latest next year.
Gross profit margin drops, bet on autonomous driving
For Tesla today, it faces significant challenges. Tesla's Q2 financial report showed a gross profit margin of 18.2%, down 1.1 percentage points from 19.3% in the first quarter and lower than market expectations of 18.8%. From the performance of each quarter this time, Tesla's gross profit margin level in 2023 has also continued to decline, at 19.3%, 18.2%, 17.9%, and 17.6% respectively.
Photo by journalist Zhang Jian (source image)
In this context, autonomous driving may become a hope for Tesla's future performance growth. It is reported that in addition to technical aspects, Tesla is accelerating the process of obtaining regulatory licenses for FSD in major global markets. Previously, Tesla officially announced that it plans to launch FSD in China in the first quarter of next year. The upcoming Robotaxi is also part of Tesla's layout in the field of autonomous driving.
McKinsey's market research report shows that the Robotaxi market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of more than 75% between 2024 and 2032, and the market value may reach 7.842 billion dollars by 2032. autonomous vehicle will reach an inflection point between 2025 and 2027, when the economic costs of automatic driving and manual driving will be roughly equal, thus driving market demand to rise steadily.
Morgan Stanley stated in a research report in April this year that the launch of Robotaxi symbolizes Tesla's shift towards hardcore AI and robotics technology in its business model. Morgan Stanley also predicts that Tesla's mobile travel revenue will reach $17 billion by 2030.
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