Tesla releases new details about its next big deal

Tesla's next big thing is just days away from launching.

Jun 21, 2025 - 17:44

Tesla releases new details about its next big deal

Rumors have been swirling for weeks as Tesla nears the launch of its next big idea — robotaxi — in Austin, Texas.

The robotaxi hype hasn't reached the fever pitch of the Cybertruck, Tesla's last big idea, but if it gets this right, robotaxi has the chance to transform not just Tesla, but driving itself.

Tesla is admittedly slow-walking the rollout with CEO Elon Musk telling CNBC, ”It’s prudent for us to start with a small number, confirm that things are going well, and then scale it up.”

Tesla says it will have just 10 robotaxis on the street at launch.

The company has already been testing its system, however. Earlier this year, Tesla said that its FSD system has driven a cumulative total of 3.6 billion miles, nearly triple the 1.3 billion cumulative miles it reported a year ago.

But the public may not trust the autonomous vehicles yet.

“Consumers are skeptical of the full self-driving (FSD) technology that undergirds the robotaxi proposition, with 60% considering Tesla’s full self-driving 'unsafe,' 77% unwilling to utilize full self-driving technology, and a substantial share (48%) believing full self-driving should be illegal,” the May 2025 edition of the Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report (EVIR) said.

Self-driving Teslas have already been spotted on city streets with a human riding shotgun ahead of the program's official launch.

And now Tesla is confirming that humans will be a fixture as it goes forward.

Tesla robotaxis will have someone sitting in the driver's seat.
Image source: van der Wal/Getty Images

Tesla Robotaxi won't be fully autonomous at launch

Tesla won't be leaving passengers in their Austin robotaxis alone, as the company plans to have a “safety monitor” sitting in the front seat during drives.

Musk has claimed in the past that once the robotaxi program is up and running, Tesla owners would be able to earn passive income by allowing their Teslas to operate autonomously as taxis, without human intervention.

However, the “safety monitor” isn't an abnormal safety feature for an autonomous vehicle. Waymo tested its vehicles for six months with a driver and for six months without one in Austin before it launched its commercial service earlier this year, according to Electrek.

A safety monitor is just one of the robotaxis' safety requirements.

Riders must agree to a TOS agreement, must have a debit or credit card on file, and can only request rides via the app between 6 a.m. and 12 a.m. within the geofenced area where it's allowed to operate.

That geofenced area limits where cars can travel and changes based on the time of day.

Only invited users are allowed to download and use the Robotaxi app.

Tesla needs robotaxi to work after dismal first quarter

While the Cybertruck has had a lot of hype, it has been a massive flop for Tesla.

A backlog of reservations helped push Cybertruck out with a lot of momentum, but it can only be described as an epic failure regarding sales.

Tesla sold just 7,100 Cybertrucks in the first three months of the year, according to the Wall Street Journal, nearly half of the 13,000 it sold in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Tesla sold fewer than 40,000 Cybertrucks in 2024, making Elon Musk's far-fetched prediction of over half a million annual sales look farcical.

Electrek reports that Tesla is sitting on $800 million of 10,000 Cybertrucks it can't sell.

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Mix that with the dismal quarter Tesla just reported, and Musk has a lot of work to do.

It reported its worst quarter in years, with auto sales revenue dropping 20% amid falling demand in the U.S., Europe, and China. In the first quarter, deliveries fell 13% year over year to 36,681 vehicles from 386,810.

Musk has been promising the robotaxi since at least 2016. Now that it is finally ready to debut, the company needs Musk's latest big swing to be a home run.