Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the company’s latest innovation at the We, Robot event in Los Angeles: the Robovan. This futuristic vehicle represents Tesla’s bold vision for revolutionizing urban transportation, blending autonomy, electric power, and high-capacity design. It carries up to 20 people at a time and also transport goods, according to Musk.
“We’re going to make this, and it’s going to look like that,” said Musk on Thursday night as the Robovan rolled towards center stage.
The Robovan, with its retro-futuristic aesthetics reminiscent of 1950s appliances meets The Jetsons, is poised to redefine city streets. Capable of transporting up to 20 passengers, this autonomous electric vehicle aims to address the growing challenges of urban mobility and congestion.
“One of the things we want to do – and we’ve done this with the Cybertruck – is we want to change the look of the roads,” said Musk. “The future should look like the future,” he said, repeating an old line.
The Robovan appears to be a scaled-up version of robotaxis developed by companies like Zoox and Cruise, suggesting Tesla’s ambition to dominate not just personal transportation but also shared mobility services. Its larger capacity could make it particularly suitable for high-traffic urban corridors and transportation hubs. In China, WeRide has built a similar Robobus.
This reveal aligns with Tesla’s ambitious goal, announced at its 2023 Investor Day, to produce 20 million vehicles annually by 2030 – a figure that would require a fifteenfold increase from 2022 production levels. The Robovan, along with the also-unveiled Cybercab, seems central to this strategy.
However, the path from prototype to production remains unclear. Musk did not outline plans for new production facilities or retooling existing ones to accommodate the Robovan and Cybercab. The lack of a concrete timeline for the Robovan contrasts with the Cybercab, which Musk projected would enter production in 2026,2027 and why not longer.
The stated goal at the time was to produce 20 million vehicles per year by 2030. That would mean that Tesla needs to increase production and sales by about 15 times from 2022.
During Thursday’s event, Musk did not outline any plans for building new production facilities or retooling existing facilities to accommodate either the Cybercab or the Robovan. He also didn’t provide much in the way of timelines for the Robovan, though he predicted the Cybercab would start production in 2026 or 2027.
