Tesla CEO and billionaire technology mogul Elon Musk has unveiled plans for autonomous robot vehicles for public transportation.
In an event in Hollywood, California, Musk showcased what he called a “Robotaxi” and “cyber cab.” He announced Tesla’s plans to introduce vehicles that would function without the supervision of its passengers.
Tesla takes the audience for a ride in the new cyber cab. Source: Tesla
The billionaire demonstrated several cars, touting that they were moving without people or even steering wheels. Musk said that the audience present at the event could also ride the unmanned vehicles.
Elon Musk says unmanned cars would save time
Musk also expressed the company’s vision for fully autonomous vehicles. Musk said the world may soon pivot into driverless vehicles, making cars more efficient. The billionaire explained:
“We’ll move from supervised to unsupervised self-driving where you can fall asleep and wake up to your destination.”
In his speech, Musk argued that while cars are very costly to buy and maintain, they are only used for about 10 hours per week, about 5.9% of the entire week. The billionaire said car usage would increase by “five times or maybe ten times more if cars were autonomous.”
The billionaire believes people would get five to 10 times more value for their car purchases. “You get your time back. This is a very big deal,” Musk added.
The CEO also believes that cars will be cheaper than traditional vehicles. Musk said that the cost of operating a car may decrease from $1 per mile to $0.20 per mile.
Related: OpenAI accuses Elon Musk of harassment in legal filing
Tesla CEO believes unmanned vehicles would be safer
The Tesla executive said autonomous vehicles would become 10 times safer than humans. Musk explained that these cars could “prevent injuries” and “save lives.”
Data analyzed by Craft Law Firm show that almost 4,000 incidents involving autonomous vehicles have occurred in the United States since 2019. The firm said that 53.9% of the incidents involved Teslas.
The number of accidents involving self-driving cars is significantly lower than the total number of car accidents in a year in the United States, which amounts to six million yearly.
Musk has been openly supportive of the popular memecoin Dogecoin (DOGE) in recent years.
In 2022, Tesla began accepting DOGE as a payment method for merchandise. However, the car manufacturer said there would be no refunds for purchases made with DOGE.
On March 14, the billionaire said while speaking at the Berlin Gigafactory, a Tesla manufacturing plant, that DOGE should be accepted as payment for Teslas “at some point.”
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