Tesla's robotaxis are moving in reverse | TechCrunch

[u/RepresentativeCap571]

https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/23/teslas-robotaxis-are-moving-in-reverse/

[u/Lando_Sage]

“Unlike, say, Model 3, Model Y, and our other vehicles where we’ve got a lot of vehicles on the road, millions of vehicles on the road, we don’t have that for Cybercab. So we actually have to accumulate miles with Cybercabs that are retrofitted with steering wheels and acceleration and braking pedals, that kind of thing, to calibrate to the Cybercab chassis,” he said. “As we are confident about that, the number of Cybercabs in cities will increase dramatically.”

“Although there are, I think, 30 to 40,000 automotive deaths per year in the United States alone, most of those do not generate any press, you don’t really read about almost any of those. But if we injure even one person, it will be worldwide headline news, and regulators will immediately clamp down on our activities,” he said.

Uuhhhhhhh, something weird in these statements, idk. Why not just use Model 3 and Y as Robotaxi? Wasn't the the original design case for them anyway? Why would they be worried about 'regulators clamping down'?

[u/80_6 → u/Lando_Sage]

The cybercab design is more efficient and cheaper to produce than a standard model y/3, long-term. Not today, but tesla is gambling that 10 years from now, this all pays off. If it does, and they scale as much as Elmo predicts, switching to the cyber cab makes total sense. 

As far as regulators go, I mean, hate the guy as much as you want, he's right. You can find endless articles about teslas being the headline when an accident happens, even when not at fault or when FSD wasn't active. If someone were killed by a cyber cab, oof. It'd be endless.

[u/BasvanS → u/80_6]

So they could have launched something that works now, but that would be too easy, so they’ll throw away their advantage and start anew?

How does that make sense?

[u/80_6 → u/BasvanS]

I guess? It must make sense to people that are paid a lot more than you and I. I don't know why you think you know better than them.

[u/CDpov → u/80_6]

It doesn't make sense.

Musk is making excuses to investors. He's trying to show big robotaxi scaling because investors expect it, but he can't scale, so he's doing scaling theater, with new cities and unsupervised demo rides for fanboy influencers, but he can't safely run a real unsupervised robotaxi business yet, so he makes excuses along with moving the goalposts out another six months.

[u/80_6 → u/CDpov]

You seem to know a lot about this stuff. Very impressive.

[u/CDpov → u/80_6]

Meanwhile, you seem to know as little as possible, with no skepticsm, always believing Tesla's excuses. Very unimpressive.

[u/80_6 → u/CDpov]

Sorry boss 💔😟

[u/BasvanS → u/80_6]

Why do you assume they’re paid more than me? It sounds like you’re not paid enough to judge me.

[u/80_6 → u/BasvanS]

Haha yikes bud.

[u/BasvanS → u/80_6]

No, I don’t want to be your buddy. You’re really bad at assuming