On October 10, 2024 Tesla announced a couple of life changing innovations. They launched self driving taxis with total autonomy. The cars were equipped with two large gull wing doors and didn’t have any steering wheels, gas pedals, or type of control. They just had a big screen for entertainment and trip details. Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla) demonstrated the taxi’s capabilities by being picked up on the stage by the car which opened the doors by itself using sensors. Then he was driven around in the car on the stage showing how the car was incredibly autonomous. One of the craziest parts of the robotaxi launch was how your tesla could be making money for you. When you sleep at night, or aren’t using your car, you can put your car into “taxi mode” where it will drive itself and do taxi trips making you money without you having to do anything. The car could make passive income with this new software. Elon expects this software update to come to Tesla cars around mid 2026. The jump from supervised FSD (full self driving) to unsupervised FSD is a big jump that will require more approval by the government though, with unsupervised FSD being launched early 2026.
Another key innovation that Tesla showed off was a product called Optimus. Optimus is a full automated humanoid meaning that it is literally a robotic human. It is capable of doing everyday tasks such as walking your dog, mowing your lawn, doing your groceries, and watching your kid. “This is a key turning point in human innovation”, said Elon. Optimus’ key roles are to make warehouse jobs easy by doing the heavy lifting and doing the night shifts reducing human workload and stress. The robot can carry 150 pounds while walking 5 mph which makes it perfect for heavy workload factory settings. Optimus does come with a hefty price tag ranging from $20,000-$30,000 based on features. Optimus is already being utilized in Tesla car factory’s where it helps carry heavy car parts, it is set to be launched on a bigger scale around late 2026 to other companies and the public.
Another product that was launched during this event was the “cybervan”. The cybervan is exactly what it sounds like, a self-driving van which is the size of a bus. The design of the van looks like it is out of cyberpunk, the van is very boxy and has uniquely shaped headlights. It is designed to fit up to 20 people along with luggage. The van has the capability of being anywhere from being a public transport bus to a school bus to a big rv. The operating costs of the van will be around $0.05-$0.10 a mile depending on how many people are riding and what it is being used for. The van is still being researched up more on and is set to launch around late 2026 or early 2027.
