Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveils a new 'robotaxi' design on Hollywood studio lot
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Last night, millions of people watched online as Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled a new robotaxi design on a Hollywood studio lot.
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ELON MUSK: There's no steering wheel or pedals.
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MUSK: So I hope this goes well.
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MUSK: We'll find out.
INSKEEP: What could possibly go wrong? But are these vehicles likely to go from Hollywood to the real world? NPR's Camila Domonoske covers the car industry. Camila, welcome back.
CAMILA DOMONOSKE, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: What did you see?
DOMONOSKE: Well, there were about 50 autonomous vehicles - some the new Cybercab, some existing vehicles - that were driving around on a set that looked like a city - lots of cameras feeding this livestream. There were also humanoid robots dancing. They were doing the robot, naturally.
INSKEEP: (Laughter) OK.
DOMONOSKE: And they played Rock, Paper, Scissors with people attending this party of a product reveal.
INSKEEP: Robot Paper, Scissors - OK, fine.
DOMONOSKE: There you go.
INSKEEP: Fine. OK, go on. Go on.
DOMONOSKE: The real news here - you know, the Cybercab design was revealed - it has these flashy butterfly doors that open up - also a design for a 20-passenger van, basically a self-driving small bus. And Elon Musk said that some existing Teslas would be able to be fully self-driving without supervision, which is currently required, next year.
INSKEEP: OK, so predicting that. But you've been watching Tesla for years. Is this likely to happen so quickly?
DOMONOSKE: Musk has said that Teslas will be fully self-driving within a year for years...
INSKEEP: OK.
DOMONOSKE: ...Now.
INSKEEP: OK.
DOMONOSKE: This time, the company was actually giving demo rides. However, anybody who works on driverless cars will tell you that getting vehicles to drive around in a space you control, like a movie set, is very different than sending them out into the messier real world.
INSKEEP: I guess we should note - we're saying that Tesla has not succeeded in getting a fully self-driving car out there, but people have seen fully self-driving cars. Waymo, Cruise - they've got working robotaxis in a few places. Does it matter much if Tesla does this?
DOMONOSKE: That's a good question. One answer is you can't buy a Waymo.
INSKEEP: Ah.
DOMONOSKE: You can buy a Tesla, and Musk says you will be able to buy a Cybercab. Now, to be clear, not for a few years at least, but they will sell the Cybercab to individuals and that existing Teslas will also be fully autonomous and can serve as robotaxis. People who own a Tesla now would hypothetically be able to send it out as a taxi when they're not using it. And when it comes to Cybercab specifically, he suggested people might buy several of them and run them as a robotaxi fleet, maintaining them, he said, like a shepherd with a flock of sheep. People being able to buy them themselves is a different vision than companies that are selling this as a service.
INSKEEP: Yeah, wow. So now we envision, like, ordering an Uber, and somebody's car shows up without the person who owns the car and takes me away.
DOMONOSKE: Exactly.
INSKEEP: But what is happening with the other robotaxi companies, the ones that are operating?
DOMONOSKE: Yeah, well, they are growing. They are not profitable yet. And Cruise have - the company run by GM - they had a high-profile crash last year and an ensuing fight with regulators, which is, Steve, another big part of this, right? Self-driving is not regulated federally, but states and cities regulate it. You need to persuade regulators it's safe. The general public - J.D. Power has polled people who take a ride in robotaxis. People tend to feel positively about them afterward. But that auto market research firm also found that robotaxis aren't really meeting a need for people right now.
INSKEEP: Oh.
DOMONOSKE: And people who ride in them are mostly doing it for the novelty.
INSKEEP: OK. NPR 's Camila Domonoske is self-driving this report. Camila, thanks so much.
DOMONOSKE: (Laughter) Thank you.
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