Will robotaxi be the next big trigger for Tesla? Here’s what Elon Musk said

Electric vehicle-maker Tesla is expanding its unsupervised robotaxi services in the US, with the company’s CEO Elon Musk laying out the automaker’s ambitious plans to scale up the segment.

The world’s richest person, during the Q2 earnings call with analysts, highlighted that while Tesla has ambitious goals for its robotaxi, they need to be cautious about causing any accidents or causing any harm to anyone. He noted that there are up to 40,000 automotive deaths per year in the United States alone, most of which do not generate any media attention. “But if we injure even one person, it will be worldwide headline news,” he said.

Musk claimed that any injury caused by Tesla’s robotaxi will lead to regulators immediately clamping down on its business, and the EV maker also doesn’t wish to harm anyone. “So we are going as fast as possible in scaling Robotaxi while trying to ensure that we do not harm anyone at all and ideally do not even run over a pet. So that is really the constraint: we want to go as fast as possible with Robotaxi without harming anyone,” he said.


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What will be Tesla's biggest product ever?

Tesla is planning to scale up robotaxi operations at a very high compound growth rate, Musk said. For its robotic humanoid Optimus, he feels it will be the biggest product ever. “But it is a very complex problem to solve,” he noted, explaining that making an autonomous humanoid robot that can do tasks is very hard.

The company aims to make the robot capable of doing a task without any programming. “No one has ever achieved this. But there are many challenges in the electromechanical design of the robot to achieve sufficient dexterity and also be very reliable and have a long wear and tear,” he said.

He concluded by saying that the Tesla team is excited about its autonomy and robotics roadmap, with “awesome stuff” lined up for launch.

Tesla Q2 earnings

Tesla’s Q2 earnings failed to meet profit estimates for the first time in more than two years, with the company reporting a negative free cash flow as the company accelerated its AI spending and robotics ambitions.

Tesla shares dropped more than 4% in extended trading hours after the profit miss and cash burn spooked investors, despite record vehicle deliveries, as higher oil prices due to the raging conflict in the Middle East increased demand for electric vehicles.

World’s richest man and Tesla CEO Elon Musk plans to spend more than $25 billion this year, which is almost triple what it spent last year, as he bet on Tesla's AI-powered self-driving technology, robotaxis and humanoid robots over its core revenue generator, the auto business.

Tesla's profitability was hurt by higher operating expenses due to AI, lower average selling prices and weaker regulatory credit revenue despite a rise in vehicle deliveries, the company said on Wednesday.

Also read | Alphabet's quarterly earnings beat Wall Street estimates, but here's what is spooking investors

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