Elon Musk announces Tesla will unveil a 'robotaxi' on August 8

Elon Musk has long had an affinity for self-driving vehicles, claiming they will be one of Tesla's most important products. Despite big promises, years have gone by without cars that can, so far, drive on their own.

Elon Musk has long had an affinity for self-driving vehicles, claiming they will be one of Tesla’s most important products. Despite big promises, years have gone by without cars that can, so far, drive on their own.

But Musk, on a Friday afternoon, when companies tend to bury news, announced on X that Tesla would unveil its robotaxi on August 8.

His post was simple and included no details. "Tesla Robotaxi unveil on 8/8," the Tesla CEO (and owner of X) posted.

Musk has said in the past that Tesla will make a car without controls for a human to use. He has also said in the past that Tesla cars equipped with Full Self-Driving Capability will, through software updates, gradually become better and better at driving. At some point, the cars will be capable of operating as fully autonomous taxis and could earn money for their owners by giving taxi rides on their own, Musk has repeatedly said.

So far, the company has passed several of Musk’s predictions for when actual self-driving would be possible.

Tesla five years ago, in April 2019, said it expected to begin operating robotaxis by 2020. The company predicted the autonomous cars would last 11 years and drive 1 million miles, making the company and the car’s operators US$30,000 in profit each year.

But Musk also acknowledged that his track record for predictions can be off – sometimes by a mile.