Tesla shows off robot taxi due out 2027

Tesla CEO Elon Musk introduced the Cybercab at Tesla’s We, Robot party on Thursday giving attendees rides in the autonomous taxi. Musk likened the self-driving vehicle to a lounge allowing passengers more time for work or pleasure during daily transit. The cab has no steering wheel or pedals—before the demonstration, Musk grimly joked that he hoped the ride went well. The cabs are planned to debut with a purchase price under $30,000, he added. Tesla showed off two automated models—one the size of a traditional sedan and another the size of a 20-person van. The cabs will also feature induction charging, ditching the plug-in charging ports on most electric vehicles.

What other enterprises are working on robotic taxis? Tesla is the latest tech giant diving into the automated car business following the trail of Waymo. Formerly known as Google’s self-driving car project, Waymo offers rides in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin. Chinese tech giant Baidu debuted a self-driving taxi earlier this year and reportedly has a fleet of them in Wuhan city.

How could a mass of self-driving cars possibly be a good thing? Beyond giving passengers more hours in the day, Musk said that autonomous cars would be much safer than riding with a human driver. He also predicted that the rise in autonomous car use would decrease the need for parking, suggesting that city parking lots could be turned into parks. There’s so much potential for green space in cities when huge parking lots are no longer needed, he wrote after the presentation. Tesla will start running fully autonomous, unsupervised cars in Texas and California next year with two existing Tesla models with self-driving capabilities, Musk said.

Won’t this harm the economy by making Uber and Lyft drivers obsolete? Musk claimed that autonomous cars open a new business model for drivers working for ride-hailing services. Professional drivers will be able to earn an income by managing a fleet of autonomous vehicles rather than driving a car themselves, Musk explained.