Tesla Wants to Launch a Network of Robotaxis by 2020

Musk said Tesla will have over a million robotaxis on the road in about a year

Tesla will soon offer robotaxis
Tesla will soon offer robotaxis. (Win McNamee/ Getty)
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Tesla plans to launch the world’s first fleet of robotaxis as part of its broader vision for an autonomous ride-sharing network in 2020, CEO Elon Musk announced during the company’s Autonomy Day.

“I feel very confident predicting that there will be autonomous robotaxis from Tesla next year — not in all jurisdictions because we won’t have regulatory approval everywhere” Musk said without revealing the regulatory details he was referring to, TechCrunch reported.

Tesla will eventually allow its car owners to add their properly equipped vehicles to its own ride-sharing app, similar to the model Uber uses, and will take 25 percent to 30 percent of the revenue from those rides, Musk said.

He envisions the new Teslas that come with the company’s full self-driving computer chip to make up the rest of the fleet in areas where there aren’t enough owners adding their cars to the ride share pool.

“From our standpoint, if you fast forward a year, maybe a year and three months, but next year for sure, we’ll have over a million robotaxis on the road,” Musk said. “The fleet wakes up with an over the air update; that’s all it takes.”

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