Billionaire mogul and Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that his company's long-rumored, fully automated taxi service will arrive late this summer'Tesla Robotaxi unveil on 8/8,' Musk posted to his social media platform X. But Musk made similar promises five years ago this month, at Tesla's Autonomy Day with investors at the electric vehicle-maker's Palo Alto, California headquarters. Musk told investors that was'very confident' then, in April 2019, that Tesla will have autonomous robo-taxis on the road as soon as next year, 2020. Then billionaire tech mogul showed off a Tesla ride-sharing app. 'Tesla Robotaxi unveil on 8/8,' Tesla mogul Elon Musk posted to his social media platform X But Musk made similar promises five years ago this month, at Tesla's Autonomy Day with investors at the electric vehicle-maker's Palo Alto, California headquarters In April 2019, Musk said he was'very confident' Tesla would have autonomous robo-taxis on the road as soon as 2020. Musk said Tesla began developing full self-driving technology in 2016 with the idea of launching a ride-share service.

Elon Musk said he's'very confident' that Tesla will have autonomous robo-taxis on the road as soon as next year. The billionaire tech mogul showed off a Tesla ride-sharing app at the company's Autonomy Day with investors at its Palo Alto, California headquarters on Monday. Not long after Tesla's robo-taxis are operational, Musk also predicts the firm will eliminate the steering wheel and pedals from its vehicles by 2021. Elon Musk said he's'very confident' that Tesla will have autonomous robo-taxis on the road as soon as next year. Pictured is a mock up of Tesla's ride-sharing app, shown at Autonomy Day'I feel very confident predicting autonomous robo-taxis for Tesla next year,' Musk said on stage.

Tesla's "autonomy day" kicked off on Monday morning at the electric-vehicle maker's headquarters in Palo Alto, California, where executives including CEO Elon Musk were expected to give investors more details about the company's self-driving technology, known as Autopilot. "Tesla is making significant progress in the development of its autonomous driving software and hardware, including our FSD computer, which is currently in production and which will enable full-self driving via future over-the-air software updates," the company said when it announced the event. Attendees were given red, Tesla-branded badges with sequential numbers, assumably for test rides of the full self-driving functionality. Musk took the stage just before noon alongside Pete Bannon, the vice president of Autopilot engineering, as more than 40,000 people watched remotely via the company's live YouTube stream. Bannon explained how Tesla designed a new chip for its Autopilot software, noting that the company was able to leverage expertise from multiple teams across the business.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is no stranger to risk. Fans of the company have called its leader savvy and visionary; critics and competitors have described some of his decisions as reckless. Reaction to Musk's latest move, announced on Wednesday, has been no different. His decision to equip all new Tesla vehicles with radar and cameras that will enable them to (eventually) drive autonomously--without human intervention--has been described as brilliant while others have called it dangerous. This is a speculator's game.

Tesla is planning to roll out a ride services program and will announce details next year, the luxury electric vehicle maker said on its website, a service first outlined by Chief Executive Elon Musk in his master plan in July. News of the Tesla Network was in a disclaimer about the self-driving functionality on new Model S vehicles. However, it bans owners from signing their car up to services from Uber, Lyft and others. News of the Tesla Network was in a disclaimer about the self-driving functionality on new Model S vehicles. 'Please note that using a self-driving Tesla for car sharing and ride hailing for friends and family is fine, but doing so for revenue purposes will only be permissible on the Tesla Network, details of which will be released next year,' read the disclaimer.

Tesla made a splash yesterday when it said that all of its new cars will be equipped with self-driving hardware. Even though drivers won't be able to activate the fully autonomous mode for at least a year, this is another step toward a future where cars can get you from point A to point B without you taking the wheel. But what Tesla did not mention in its announcement is how it plans to limit its customers with the technology. According to the company's fine print, people who want to use their self-driving-capable Teslas to earn a bit of money with ride-hailing services like Uber or Lyft will be disappointed: "Using a self-driving Tesla for car sharing and ride hailing for friends and family is fine," the company writes, "but doing so for revenue purposes will only be permissible on the Tesla Network, details of which will be released next year." This passage is significant for two reasons.