Tesla reportedly delays 'robotaxi' event to October | TechCrunch
Tesla is apparently not ready to reveal its “robotaxi” design next month, and is instead pushing the event to October, according to Bloomberg News.
The company reportedly needs more time to build the prototypes. It had been aiming for an August 8 event. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tesla shares fell more than 6% following the report.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk first teased the robotaxi event in April, on the same day that Reuters reported the company was shelving plans for a new vehicle built on a next-generation platform that would cost around $25,000. Musk denied that report on his social media platform X.
Tesla had internally planned to build the dedicated robotaxi and the $25,000 car — often referred to as the Model 2 by fans and watchers of the company — on the same platform. But Musk has waffled on the idea of building a new vehicle with a steering wheel and pedals and instead has favored going all-in on the robotaxi.
Just a few weeks after Musk announced the robotaxi event, he slashed more than 10% of Tesla’s global workforce and said the company was going “balls to the wall for autonomy.”
Musk has a history of announcing things to the public that many of his own employees aren’t aware of, forcing them to scramble. In February, he posted on X about how the long-delayed second generation Tesla Roadster is going to be capable of going even faster than originally promised — an announcement that surprised the Roadster development team, according to The Information.
Musk’s robotaxi event announcement similarly took employees by surprise, according to one person familiar with the matter, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity.
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