Article: My Experiences at the Tesla We, Robot!
My Experiences at the Tesla We, Robot!
By
Dan Capelle
I got a last-minute ticket to the biggest Tesla event I have witnessed with my own eyes, We, Robot! I immediately grabbed it with both hands and caught a plane to LA. And let me tell you the event was totally worth it!
I will recall everything I witnessed and that was announced, and if you wish to experience the event yourself, there is a link to the recording at the end of the post. (Tip: Skip the first 52 mins 😉)
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We, Robot - Who all came, Where it all happened?
So, as I said, it was the biggest Tesla event I have attended - both in terms of the real estate involved and the list of attendees.
In other Tesla events I have attended, the Tesla biggies only attend virtually, here they were present in person. Franz von Holzhausen, Lars Moravy, Andrej Karpathy, and the Musk family, including Maye, Kimbal, Tosca, and Elon himself were all there. Even Dennis Quaid came.
The last time such an event happened was when Cybertruck was announced. So everyone knew it was gonna be HUGE, but how huge?
Well this huge:
The event was divided into 5 “neighborhoods” spread across 20 to 30 acres in the Hollywood Studios. Each neighborhood had its own feel:
- Westworld had the Texas BBQ and the event stage
- Metropolis had arcade games, and the “Swing at the Cybertruck” section
- TSLA Theater had a movie on a gigantic screen with woodfired pizza and desserts
- New York was the party site with live music, street performers, & street food
- Merch had Tesla Merch
Now that I have established what all the hoopla is about, let’s get to the announcements.
RoboTaxi was launched
It was one of the most anticipated parts of the event. Everyone had been talking about it, but no one was sure that it would really happen, and then it did!
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A certain someone called Elon Musk was the RoboTaxi driver of the day! Well, more like RoboTaxi passenger, as the super cool, spaceship-looking, vehicle had no steering wheel or pedals, at all!
This was confirmed later when I got to peek into the vehicle interior and the screen said “Self Driving”
Coming back to the event, when Elon arrived at the stage in the RoboTaxi, or as Elon confirmed, the CyberCab, he announced there were 20 more of these, driving across the 5 neighborhoods created for the event.
Our excitement rose when he announced we could get a ride in these once the party began!
What Elon said?
- The current Transport system is not safe, costs too much, not sustainable
- Tesla plans on moving from Supervised FSD to Unsupervised FSD
- Texas and California can expect Unsupervised FSD in 2025 (Model 3 and Y)
- The event had close to 30 Model Ys running across the village in Unsupervised FSD mode
- Model S, X & CT can expect to follow
- AI Vision will play a large role in achieving this
- Currently, cars are driven only 10 hours out of 168 hours a week
- Autonomous cars will make transport free from human error and make it safer for everyone, just like we automated elevators, which some decades back required a human operator
- With RoboTaxis the running cost of transport can come down from $1 a mile to 40cents a mile including taxes and insurance
- RoboTaxi is expected to cost below $30,000
- Production is expected to begin in 2026, or before 2027 (based on Elon’s optimistic timeframe)
- RoboTaxi has no plug, it will use Inductive Charging
- RoboTaxi will create opportunities to repurpose parking lots into parks and create more green spaces
RoboVan was the biggest surprise
And as we all know how Elon is, his mind runs in a million directions simultaneously. While talking about RoboTaxi, we suddenly saw a unique, futuristic vehicle coming on the stage!
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No one knew what that was until Elon called it the RoboVan (Elon pronounces it ‘Robo1’), a vehicle larger than Model Y.
Elon announced:
- RoboVan can carry up to 20 people
- It can carry goods
- It can reduce the cost of travel to 10 cents a mile.
Robovan details pic.twitter.com/Pdito0dfRq
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 11, 2024
A fleet of Optimus!
And before the feeling could sink in or I could believe my eyes, suddenly a fleet of Optimus walked in! (Sorry was too flabbergasted to capture that moment in my phone)
Elon also announced:
- Optimus cost could come down to $30,000 in the long term (Less than a car)
- Optimus would be able to handle all your chores, mow your lawn, babysit, be a teacher, serve drinks, take care of the groceries, etc.
And then the party began, with Optimus dancing to What is Love! (As of now, Optimus is remotely operated, but they felt so real…)
Final words
Soon we were allowed to interact with Optimus. They were our bartenders for the night, waved at us, grooved with us to the music, and much more.
They could even pick up the gifts we asked for and give them to us. I can’t wait to experience them operating autonomously.
Then, we all took turns experiencing the RoboTaxi first-hand. Believe me, it was the most epic ride of my life to date!
And those freshly baked wood-fired pizzas were to die for!
Overall, it was a dope night full of fun and optimism. I even got to meet some very special people from the Tesla community, including Sawyer Merritt.
After attending the event, I feel we will very soon experience Unsupervised FSD with model 3 and Y, RoboTaxi development is coming along nicely and we could see it on the roads in the next 5 years, quickly followed by the RoboVan and Optimus.
Event recording:
The future is autonomous
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 11, 2024
Event starts now https://t.co/5nzf61xdcm
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