Musk Confirms Tesla's Robotaxi Event is Pushed Back

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In a report that originally appeared from Bloomberg, it was claimed that Tesla will be delaying its much-anticipated 8/8 Robotaxi event by two months to October 2024.

While sources other than Bloomberg hadn’t confirmed the report at the time. Musk has now announced the delay on X.

Tesla’s stock dropped nearly 8.5% on the day of Bloomberg’s article, but this delay is only a couple of months and doesn’t change Tesla’s strategy. The drop in Tesla’s stock ended back-to-back gains over the previous two weeks. It had hit a high of $270 earlier in the day before the news broke.

Update: Musk just took to X a few minutes ago to confirm that the event is delayed. Although he didn’t provide a new timeline, it appears that it may indeed be October according to the original Bloomberg article. What Musk did reveal in his post is why it’s being delayed. Musk said he requested an important design change to the front of the vehicle. It’s not clear what the change is or whether it’s completely cosmetic or plays a more important role, possibly having to do the front camera or the additional of additional cameras.

Musk went on to say it also gives Tesla some extra time to show off a “few other things.” With Musk commenting on the situation and the design change, he basically confirms what we already expected, that Tesla will be showing off the robotaxi vehicle at the event. If you’re curious about what the vehicle will look like, take a look at Rimac’s robotaxi to get an idea of what to expect from Tesla’s version.

Requested what I think is an important design change to the front, and extra time allows us to show off a few other things

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 15, 2024

Why the Delay?

The delay – of approximately two months – has been communicated internally, but not publicly announced just yet. Bloomberg goes on to mention that the design team was told to rework certain elements of the Cybercab, necessitating the delay.

If Bloomberg’s report is correct, it sounds like Tesla’s unveil event will be largely focused on showing off the vehicle, instead of demoing how it will work. Of course, it could still be both, but given past events, Tesla has always shown off the vehicle years before it hits production.

Rimac recently showed off their version of robotaxi vehicle named Verne, and surprisingly, it could almost pass for Tesla’s own robotaxi. A lot of design cues in Rimac’s version are elements we have already seen or expect to see in Tesla’s autonomous taxi.

A recent Tesla patent revealed that Tesla is incorporating a sanitation system into their robotaxi that will be responsible for analyzing and cleaning the vehicle’s interior, although the delay itself is likely tied more to a physical feature rather than software.

Another element we know almost nothing about is how Tesla plans to charge these robotic taxis. Will they rely on the existing charge port and adapt a solution like the robotic charging arm (video below) we saw almost eight years ago, or will wireless charging or a dock finally become realized?

While the delay for Tesla’s event appears to be related to the vehicle’s design itself and not further development of FSD, Tesla is wasting no time in getting FSD working for the upcoming vehicle. Model 3 vehicles have already been spotted with camera locations that resemble a robotaxi.

Is the Delay Accurate?

We expect that this delay might actually be true – Elon Musk usually takes to X within hours of such news breaking if it's false to refute it and hasn’t done so yet.

Tesla has delayed several of their events in the past, and a delay of a couple of months seems plausible. We should hear from Musk himself soon on whether this report is accurate.

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Tesla Is Working With City of Austin to Launch Self Driving Vehicle Fleet

Not a Tesla App

Tesla has been working hard behind the scenes to get its Robotaxi network off the ground. We previously reported that they were in talks with the City of Palo Alto in California. This, combined with potential federal changes from the incoming U.S. Administration means that Tesla is really pushing to make its Robotaxi network a reality in 2025.

Bloomberg now reports that Tesla is in discussions with another city to explore the launch of an autonomous vehicle fleet. This development follows the major announcements made during Tesla’s We, Robot autonomy event in October.

Tesla has been testing the network in San Francisco's Bay Area with its employees and safety drivers, which means that internally, some of the necessary infrastructure is already in place to begin further deployments.

Austin, Texas

Bloomberg reports that Tesla is now in the early stages of the proposal with the city of Austin - the same city that already hosts Giga Texas. Tesla has apparently been in touch with the city’s Autonomous Vehicle Task Force since early spring to work on hashing out the proposal.

Austin already has Waymo and Zoox testing their robotaxi services in the city, so Tesla’s Cybercabs or other Tesla vehicles will be an interesting addition to the offerings already available.

The Proposal

The proposal will likely look at safety regulations, initial offerings by Tesla, liability status, and pilot testing the Robotaxi network throughout Austin before it is publicly rolled out. Another topic of discussion was ensuring that the city’s first responders - Firefighters, Paramedics, and Police - would be trained to interact with the vehicles. Tesla held an event in Austin with first responders on December 5th to do the initial set of training and help establish guidelines for the rollout.

We’re excited to see which of the two cities we know about - Austin or Palo Alto - will take the crown for the first public Robotaxi network.

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Tesla Adds New Long-Awaited Voice Commands

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While we’ve seen several changes to Tesla’s voice commands, including a new voice and the potential for a Smart Voice Assistant to come soon, we haven’t seen much in the way of new voice commands.

For the first time in a long time, Tesla has added new voice commands as part of the 2024 Holiday Update. These new commands control vehicle features that weren’t accessible before. With all of the changes we’re seeing, including faster responses and better voice recognition, we’d be surprised if Tesla doesn’t show off a completely new system in the first half of 2025.

For now, let’s take a look at the new voice commands. Shout out to @LifeMiddie and our readers for catching these.

HOV Lanes

Command: Turn [On/Off] HOV

High Occupancy Vehicle lanes are generally faster than other lanes. However, the requirements for their use differ from state to state, with many states requiring a minimum number of occupants. The setting is buried under Controls > Navigation > Use HOV Lanes, which makes it annoying to get to for something you may want to turn on and off often. Thankfully, we can now use a voice command.

Toll Routes

Command: Turn [On/Off] Avoid Tolls

Similar to HOV lanes, this command will toggle the “Avoid Tolls” navigation feature on or off as requested.

We’re actually hoping this feature gets renamed - a double negative “Turn Off Avoid Tolls” to be able to use toll routes in navigation is a bit confusing. Perhaps “Avoid Tolls/Don’t Avoid Tolls” would be a better voice command.

Headlights

Command: Turn [On/Off] Headlights

This is a simple command that people have been asking for ages. We’re glad to see it finally arrive, and it's pretty helpful, especially when you’re parked or want to turn on your headlights in the rain.

Keep in mind that using Turn on headlights will actually switch your headlights to On instead of Auto, so you may need to move them back to Auto later.

Fog Lights

Command: Turn [On/Off] Fog Lights

This command requires your vehicle to be equipped with fog lights. This command does nothing for newer vehicles that include integrated fog lights, like the Cybertruck and Model 3 Highland.

For vehicles equipped with fog lights, it will turn on or off your fog lights as requested. It's a nice addition, as fog lights aren’t always necessary. This will also turn off your rear fog lights for the Model S and Model X.

A couple of other existing voice commands that are often useful are ‘navigate to X’ or ‘navigate home.’ You can also use voice commands to turn on voice guidance on or off by saying, turn off voice guidance. We have a list of the Top 10 Most Useful Voice Commands that may also be useful.

If you find any additional new voice commands, let us know here on our forums or on social media. You can also check out our list of all known Tesla voice commands.

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