Can Tesla’s Cybercab and Robovan actually take on Uber?

The 20-seater Tesla Robovan, unveiled on 10 October, features no windscreen or visible wheels  (Tesla)
The 20-seater Tesla Robovan, unveiled on 10 October, features no windscreen or visible wheels (Tesla)

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After years of teasing a full-autonomous robotaxi, Tesla has finally unveiled the vehicle it hopes will disrupt the ride-hailing market and revolutionise personal transport.

With no steering wheel or pedals, the two-seater Cybercab ditches conventional controls to offer a fully driverless experience. Tesla also threw in a 20-seater Robovan prototype at the unveiling event on Thursday, claiming that it can serve as anything from a school bus to a wedding limousine.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk described it as a “futuristic art deco bus”, but without a windscreen or wheels it does not even look like a road vehicle. It has drawn comparisons to an elongated robot head hovering along the street, while others likened it to a Streamliner train, a computer mouse and a high-end toaster.

Both the Cybercab and Robovan seek to unsettle the ride-hailing dominance of firms like Uber and Lyft – completely removing the need for human labour. Tesla also hopes to challenge the emerging autonomous taxis offerings from the likes of Waymo, but to succeed it will need to overcome three main challenges: technology, regulation and acceptance.

The technology part depends on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software (FSD), which is already available in the firm’s existing vehicles. The millions of Teslas currently on the road are being used to train the algorithms and data models to improve FSD, with Musk claiming that the company’s global fleet collectively drives half a million miles every 3.5 minutes. This contributes to continuous improvements to the FSD system, which can then be sent to all cars via over-the-air software updates.

Tesla said its Cybercab robotaxi will cost under $30,000 (Tesla)
Tesla said its Cybercab robotaxi will cost under $30,000 (Tesla)

Despite these vast training sets, some industry experts have pointed to potential safety concerns stemming from Musk’s unwillingness to use lidar – an expensive 3D sensor system that many robotaxi companies currently rely on. His reasoning is that Tesla’s ultra-powerful FSD chip can rely on cameras alone, just like humans can drive using just vision.

“This opinion is shortsighted in that humans have a human brain, which processes input from our eyes and other senses, and enables us to analyse and react to familiar and new situations instantly,” Brad Rosen, chief operating officer at self-driving software firm Nodar, told The Independent.

“Insufficient computing power combined with an inability to train the networks on every possible scenario – or even a fraction of the edge cases that humans handle so well – leaves Tesla vehicles inadequately prepared for many driving situations.”

The issue of regulation is one that existing robotaxi firms are currently struggling to navigate. Earlier this year, Google’s driverless car division Waymo was blocked from expanding its business following a series of accidents with its vehicles.