Tesla admitted that its self-driving taxis will be remotely controlled by people next year

The emergence of specialized vacancies at Tesla forced it to admit that the company’s Optimus robots and Cybercab unmanned taxis will need remote operators, albeit for ideally less frequent interventions in the control process. Deutsche Bank analysts, after a meeting with Tesla management, have reason to claim that the company’s self-driving taxi service will also rely on remote operators next year.

Image Source: Tesla

At least, these are the conclusions of Deutsche Bank representatives published by Reuters following their meeting with the company’s head of investor relations, Travis Axelrod. The company has already noted that it is testing the driverless taxi service on its own employees in the United States, and next year it will launch a corresponding commercial service in California and Texas. Tesla is not abandoning its plans, but Axelrod explains that such unmanned taxis, in order to ensure a higher level of safety, will need remote operators who will insure the automation at first. Next year, all Tesla electric vehicles providing such services will belong to the company itself; customers will be able to call an unmanned taxi through the Tesla proprietary application. How soon the company will be able to abandon operators insuring automation is not specified.

But Reuters mentions Tesla’s intentions to introduce a cheaper electric car in the next half of the year, as well as expand the model range as a whole by the end of next year. At a minimum, this allows us to count on the release of a restyled version of the Tesla Model Y, since the most popular electric car in the world needs to be updated in the face of fierce competition.

Chinese sources interpret Axelrod’s words about Tesla’s intentions to release a cheaper electric car in the first half of next year in their own way, even mentioning its symbol (Redwood) and trade name (Model Q). According to available data, the car will be 15% more compact and 30% lighter than the Tesla Model 3, the body length of the new product will not exceed 4 meters, and the production cost will be reduced by almost half compared to the same Model 3. The electric car will be equipped with LFP batteries with a capacity of 53 or 75 kWh, the drive will be either front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. The power reserve of the new product will reach 500 km. The release of the Model Q in China is expected to cost the car around $20,000 locally, while outside of China the electric car will cost between $25,000 and $30,000, depending on the availability of subsidies and their size.

It must be said that such information contradicts Elon Musk’s own statements, who recently expressed doubts about the feasibility of creating an electric car driven by a person under $30,000. The company’s management believes that the market’s needs for inexpensive means of transportation will be covered by the Cybercab unmanned taxi service.