Big tech meets Hollywood for an event that billionaire Elon Musk promises will change tech forever.
Musk is expected to unveil Tesla’s much anticipated Robotaxi on the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank at 7 p.m.
Tesla is calling the event “We, Robot.” Although the event is invite-only, the company will be live-streaming on X, formerly Twitter.
Tesla’s Robotaxis would provide rides for passengers without a driver in the car. The full self-driving vehicles would compete with ride-hailing services, such Uber and Lyft.
Musk first teased the Robotaxi event in April, originally setting a date of August 8 for a reveal — that date was pushed back due to “an important design change,” according to the company.
Fans and investors of Tesla think this event will be a game changer.
“I think it will be viewed five to 10 years from now as what the iPhone launch moment was for Apple,” Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, told CNN.
Meantime, others are more cautious about impending announcement.
“Elon’s Robotaxi represents a potential paradigm shift in the transportation industry, but it’s not going to happen overnight,” Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iSeeCars, said in a statement this week.
There are already a handful of companies that have self-driving taxis. Waymo, a subsidiary of Google, has been operating in Los Angeles for years. Cruise, a unit of General Motors, recently restarted testing driverless taxis. Zoox, owned by Amazon, is currently testing driverless vans.
