Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of
Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters
Tesla CEO Musk said in a social media post on X that the company will release its Robotaxi product on August 8.
Musk has been talking about the robotaxi project for years, and it could represent a major new business venture for the automaker as investors grow wary of the company during a growth slowdown.
Tesla shares rose more than 3% in after-hours trading after Musk’s tweet.
Musk shared the launch date on Friday after Reuters reported that plans for Tesla’s much-anticipated low-cost model had been scrapped. Musk accused Reuters of “lying”.
According to Musk’s past remarks, Tesla’s robotaxi program will allow Tesla vehicles to use self-driving technology to autonomously pick up passengers and collect fees. In 2019, Musk said he expected the number of robotaxis on the road to exceed 1 million by 2020. Author Walter Isaacson also mentioned the robotaxi project in his 2022 biography of Musk.
The market for taxi services using autonomous vehicles is highly competitive.
Alphabet’s self-driving car unit Waymo operates driverless ride-hailing services in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles and is currently operating in Austin, Texas, where Tesla is based.
GM’s Cruise service previously offered self-driving cars in San Francisco but shut down amid regulatory scrutiny after an accident. Since the incident, Cruise’s robo-taxi fleet has been grounded, local and federal governments have launched their own investigations, and Cruise’s leadership has been undermined.
—CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed reporting.
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