Fully autonomous passenger transportation could become one of the most valuable industries in the world. With this in mind, Tesla’s Robotaxi could become the greatest value creator for the company.
Tesla is on the cusp of bringing fully autonomous vehicles to the road
Elon Musk has always been distinguished by his ability to look to the future and create what will be needed. In 2016, he shared his plans to develop a fully autonomous robotaxi. This meant that cars would no longer have to be driven by human drivers, but would drive on their own. After years of hard work, Tesla appears to be on the cusp of bringing autonomous driving technology to market. Musk has pointed out several times lately that the technology is closer than ever. It may be ready even this year.
The average car is used only 10-12 hours a week
Every day we see hundreds of cars parked all over the place. In fact, this is exactly what cars have been doing for most of their existence. The average passenger car is used only 10-12 hours a week. Musk explained that this makes the value proposition incredibly inefficient. If cars had autonomous driving software, they could drive all the time, making money for owners and Tesla.
Robotaxis can become the greatest value creator for the company
Robotaxi is actually a Tesla vehicle that is equipped with self-driving technology and operates on the Tesla Robotaxi network. Musk’s goal is to have as many Tesla vehicles with autonomous driving software installed as possible to serve as Robotaxis. Owners while not using their car can send it to the network, where it will work as a taxi, generating income for both them and Tesla.
Musk said the income split could be 50/50 even 70/30 in favor of the car owner. In addition to being beneficial for owners, it could completely change Tesla’s financial performance. Thus, instead of making a profit only from the production of a car, the company would continue to receive income from each produced car that operates in the Robotaxi network.
Musk talked about how Tesla will adopt a closed ecosystem in this direction. This means that such cars can only work in the Tesla Robotaxi network. It would also mean the software revenue would stay with Tesla and not go to competitors like Uber and others.
