CEO Elon Musk promises to put 1mn Tesla robo-taxis on road by next year

Tesla has announced that by next year, it not only plans to deliver a complete self-driving car, but also put out there one million robo-taxis, taking over the ride-hailing industry.

In its recent event held on Monday, CEO Elon Musk revealed Tesla’s plans for its self-driving cars and its plans to compete with firms such as Uber and Lyft with their strategy for an autonomous ride-hailing fleet: the robo-taxis, about which Musk is ‘very confident’.

As per Business Insider, robo-taxis are generally just another Tesla vehicle with self-driving capabilities. For turning a Tesla into a robo-taxi, the owner could just add it to the Tesla Network platform via app.

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Musk assured that by 2020, ‘for sure, we will have over 1 million robo-taxis on the road’. Riders will be able to call a robo-taxi via the same Tesla app – similar to the way how Uber and Lyft works – the difference is just that Tesla’a robo-taxis won’t have any driver.

Moreover, Musk mentioned that rides via robo-taxis will cost really less. As detailed by Engadget, the average cost for a trip in today’s ride-hailing services costs about $2 to $3 per mile, where Tesla’s program will likely be less than $0.18 per mile, as per Musk.

Additionally, Musk stated that for Tesla owners, there could be a huge sum to money to be made A single robo-taxi could provide around $30,000 worth of profits per year and over a couple hundred thousand dollars over the lifespan of the vehicle.

He mentioned that it is ‘financially insane to buy anything other than a Tesla’ today. “It will be like owning a horse in three years. I mean, fine if you want to own a horse. But you should go into it with that expectation.”

Musk also promised that Teslas will be capable of self-driving by the end of this year, and in two years the company will be making cars without steering wheels or pedals at all. “The probability of the steering wheel being removed in future is 100%. Consumers will demand in the future that people are not allowed to drive these two-tonne death machines.”