‘Big hype, little details’: Is Tesla playing us for fools?

The Tesla Robotaxi concept was revealed in Hollywood – but is it too good to be true?

Elon Musk is good at making big promises, but can he deliver on them? His latest headline-grabbing event is the reveal of a Tesla Robotaxi in Los Angeles, which he claimed will be on sale by 2027, cost less than US$30,000 and be fully autonomous (so much so he said occupants could “fall asleep” while it took you to your destination).

Putting aside the fact Musk has designed a taxi that’s a two-seater coupe, and therefore not particularly practical, serious questions must be asked about whether or not the Robotaxi is a genuine production product or another example of the brand’s publicity driven ideas that may never see the light of day.

READ MORE: Is Tesla bad for the world?

It took the better part of six years for the Cybertruck to go from its first public reveal to production, but people may have forgotten that at the same December 2017 event Tesla also showed off its second-generation Roadster concept. We’re now approaching the seven year anniversary of the Roadster’s reveal and deposits being taken, and yet we appear to be no closer to a production version of that car (or if it will literally fly as Musk also claimed).

It’s almost been seven years since the Tesla Roadster concept was revealed – it’s still not in production

Musk himself admits he can be “optimistic” about the timing of his cars and there is some question about the company’s actual time frame for the launch of this latest model, with both 2026 and “before 2027” mentioned at various times during the launch.

Of particular concern about the Robotaxi is the lack of details Musk provided at the reveal event. For starters, officially it is known as ‘Robotaxi’ but Musk referred to it as “Cybercab” on multiple occasions, casting doubt on what it should even be called.

The very idea of a coupe taxi, particularly one with scissor doors, makes little practical sense and Musk’s claims about it costing as little as 20 cents per mile to run cannot be independently verified. He also claimed that the Robotaxi could both be rented out by other people looking for “individual mass transit” as well as potentially offering cloud computing services while they aren’t being driven.

It almost sounds too good to be true…

Tesla’s Robotaxi concept doesn’t have a steering wheel

What has been noticeably absent from any Tesla event in recent years is a concept for its long-awaited Model 2; its proposed entry-level model that would sit beneath the Model 3 and expand the brand’s appeal.

The reveal of the Robotaxi didn’t have the desired impact on Tesla’s share price, which dropped by nine per cent after the glitzy Hollywood unveiling. Garrett Nelson, an analyst at investment research firm CFRA, cited the lack of details

“We were really disappointed by the lack of detail about its near-term and intermediate term product roadmap,” Nelson told Yahoo Finance. “No mention of the more-affordable EV model a lot of people are calling the Model 2, nothing about that. Nothing about the Roadster.”

He added: “It was sort of like watching a movie with a lot of plot twists and special effects. And at the end, you’re walking out kind of scratching your head… It was really short on detail and long on special effects.”

Tesla has endured a difficult 2024, with sales down in the first half of the year as EV demand has softened around the globe. It’s also facing an increasing amount of competition, especially from emerging Chinese brands.