Tesla’s “We, Robot” product update event was light on explanation and heavy on demonstration.

[Posted to LinkedIn October 11, 2022]

If you missed seeing the event last night, here’s a quick rundown of what happened at the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank:

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗮𝗯 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘂𝘁
-The headliner of the event was the prototype for the Cybercab, a 2-seat EV.
-20 Cybercabs arrived, driverless, during the event.
-Tesla’s intention is to sell the Cybercab as a fully autonomous vehicle only.
-(None of the Cybercabs had steering wheels or pedals.)
-One bit of news: they will feature induction charging rather than plug-in charging.
-Event attendees were encouraged to take test trips to various film sets around the lot.
-Regarding pricing, Elon Musk said, “We expect the cost to be below $30,000.”
-Audience reaction seemed strong/positive.

𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗦𝗗 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
-As always, there was more crowd interaction when Mr. Musk discussed product timelines, which Tesla often misses.
-Musk: “We do expect to start fully autonomous —unsupervised FSD— in Texas and California next year. That’s with the Model 3 and Model Y. ...We expect to be in production with the Cybercab -which is highly optimized for autonomous transport, in probably… —well, I tend to be a little optimistic with time frames— in 2026… [audience laughter] —Before 2027, let me put it that way.”

𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘂𝘁
-Mr. Musk also used the event to introduce the “Robovan” prototype - a surprise.
-He described its low-cost operation and seating capacity for 20 people.
-The Robovan prototype was also taking passengers around the lot like the other vehicles.

𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝘂𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁; 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲
-Mr. Musk also introduced the latest version of the Optimus humanoid robot.
-There were over a dozen of them; serving drinks, dancing and interacting with guests (some of them were remotely operated).
-Pricing is expected in the $20-30k range.
-We may find out that they were the real stars of the event.

𝗪𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴?
-In the end, the online / live stream (viewed by over 3M people) didn’t reveal much about specs and engineering.
-Instead, the event was focused on *showing* these products, live, in action.
-I think that was a smart choice, because the industry has grown impatient with the build-up and delays. People wanted to see something real, and they did.
-Lastly, I think the event will prove successful in generating product testimonials and related content for the army of influencers in attendance.


#Tesla, #werobot, #cybercab, #robovan, #optimus, #fsd