Elon Musk is putting Tesla all-in on Robotaxi
Riding the AI wave, Elon Musk is betting Tesla’s business on its self-driving effort, including Robotaxi, at the cost of other programs critical to its core business.
At the same time, the CEO is threatening not to build AI products at Tesla.
Tesla has been investing in autonomous driving for years, but you can argue that it has had little positive impact on its business to date. For the most part, Tesla’s business, financially speaking, is selling electric vehicles, specifically Model Y.
The automaker has been very good at that, with Model Y becoming the best-selling vehicle in the world.
You would think that Tesla would continue that way and build a broader lineup of electric vehicles to continue to grow, but it didn’t play out that way.
As we previously reported, Cybertruck was a mistake for Tesla. The program could still prove successful, but Tesla’s focus on the vehicle, which is somewhat limited in terms of volume, with 250,000 units per year planned, has resulted in Tesla’s current “gap in growth waves.”
Instead of focusing on Tesla’s next-generation vehicles, which are expected to bring the company back to growth, the automaker brought the Cybertruck to market, which is cool, but it won’t meaningfully contribute to the company’s growth.
Tesla going all-in on Robotaxi
Tesla has been hedging its bets with its next-generation vehicles, which are built with a new manufacturing method the automaker calls “unboxed.” The company planned to build two vehicles on the new platform:
- a model cheaper and smaller than Model 3, sometimes being referred as the “$25,000 Tesla” or “Model 2”
- Tesla Robotaxi: a new vehicle designed from the ground-up for self-driving.
However, we reported yesterday that we were able to confirm that CEO Elon Musk postponed Tesla’s cheaper model in favor of Robotaxi.
That is a huge bet as Tesla now absolutely needs to solve self-driving in order to keep growing at any significant pace, as it would not have a car program geared toward growth for years otherwise.
Musk said that Tesla would be spending “several billions of dollars” on NVIDIA compute power this year to train its self-driving system.
We reported yesterday that Tesla is aiming to complete a massive data center to train Full Self-Driving at Gigafactory Texas by the end of August. That’s just a few weeks after Tesla plans to unveil its ‘Robotaxi’.
Electrek’s Take
With the postponed cheaper model, Tesla will be looking at a minimum of three years without significant growth if it doesn’t achieve self-driving.
That’s why I am saying that Elon Musk is putting Tesla all-in on self-driving and Robotaxi.
I get it, to a degree. AI is moving at incredible speeds right now, and there’s this feeling that technologies will move a lot faster because of it. Many tech leaders are rushing to link their companies to it.
I’ve had FSD Beta in my car for 2 years now, and it didn’t feel to me like FSD was improving at AI speeds, if at all, but I’ve had v12 for a week now, and I have to admit that this is a meaningful improvement.
It is giving me some hope that Tesla could start improving the system at AI speeds. Potentially.
But with all that said, I think Tesla could have still hedged its bets and developed the cheaper vehicle side-by-side — even if it meant Robotaxi would be a bit behind this new accelerated schedule.
It is still risky.
For Tesla shareholders, it’s also confusing. Elon is taking all this risk, betting everything on AI helping Tesla solve self-driving, saying that “Tesla is now an AI company”, and at the same time, he threatened Tesla shareholders that he would not build AI products at Tesla if he doesn’t 25% control over the company’s shares, which he would have he didn’t sell billions of dollars worth of Tesla shares to buy Twitter.
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Germany is about to become home to Europe’s largest battery storage system – a massive 1 gigawatt (GW) / 4 gigawatt-hour (GWh) project in Jänschwalde, Brandenburg.
LEAG Clean Power GmbH and Fluence Energy GmbH, a subsidiary of US-based Fluence Energy (NASDAQ: FLNC), are teaming up to build the “GigaBattery Jänschwalde 1000.” The four-hour system will use Fluence’s Smartstack technology, its latest large-scale energy storage solution.
Once complete, Europe’s largest battery storage project will play a key role in stabilizing Germany’s grid and storing renewable power for when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. It’s designed to deliver essential grid services, support energy trading, and boost energy security as the country phases out fossil fuels.
LEAG’s broader “GigawattFactory” plan combines solar and wind farms with flexible power plants and large-scale batteries across Germany’s Lusatian energy region. “By constructing gigascale storage facilities, we’re addressing one of the biggest challenges of the energy transition: ensuring constant power regardless of the availability of renewable energies,” said Adi Roesch, CEO of the LEAG Group.
Fluence CEO Julian Nebreda described the project as a “milestone for the energy future of Germany and Europe,” adding that it demonstrates how collaboration and cutting-edge technology can “transform the foundation of our economy and our everyday lives.”
The German government recently reaffirmed the importance of storage in building a secure and affordable clean power system. With this 4 GWh giant, LEAG and Fluence are implementing that priority in one of Europe’s most coal-heavy regions.
Read more: Battery boom: 5.6 GW of US energy storage added in Q2
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![The Genesis GV90 is shaping up to be a real stunner [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/Genesis-GV90-ultra-luxury-SUV.jpeg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
The GV90 will be the brand’s largest, most luxurious SUV yet. With its official debut coming up, a production version of the Genesis GV90 was spotted in public for the first time, offering a closer look at the stunning SUV.
The Genesis GV90 is a stunning flagship SUV
Genesis vehicles already have a unique design that’s hard to miss. The big Creste Grille, Two-Line Quad Lamps, and smooth character lines offer a refined, luxurious look, but Genesis is planning to take it to the next level with the GV90.
The GV90 is an “ultra-luxe, state-of-the-art SUV,” according to Genesis. It will be the luxury brand’s new flagship vehicle and first full-size electric SUV.
We got our first look at the flagship SUV last March after Genesis unveiled the Neolun concept at the New York Auto Show.
The GV90 has been spotted out in public several times now, even flashing high-end features like coach doors and adaptive air suspension, but now, we are finally getting our first look at the production version in real life.
A new video from HealerTV shows the production version of the Genesis GV90 in action. Although it’s still covered in camo, you can see a few slight design changes from the concept shown last year.
The headlights and grille appear closer in design to its current vehicles, but other than that, the GV90 looks essentially the same up front as the Neolun concept.
Since it’s still covered, it’s hard to see where the headlights are connected at this point. From the side and rear, the GV90 looks identical to the concept.
Genesis has yet to announce an official launch date, but the GV90 could debut by the end of the year with sales expected to kick off in mid-2026.
The flagship SUV is rumoured to be the first vehicle to debut on Hyundai’s new eM platform, which it claims will “provide 50% improvement in driving range” compared to its current EVs. It will also serve as a tech beacon, featuring Hyundai’s most advanced connectivity and safety tech.
We will learn official prices and final specs soon, but one thing is for sure: it won’t be cheap. The Genesis GV90 is expected to start at around $100,000, but higher trims could cost significantly more with added features and options.
Genesis is also introducing its first hybrid, the GV80, next year, followed by its first extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) based on the GV70. The EREV is expected to launch in late 2026 or early 2027. There’s also an off-road SUV in the works, which will likely arrive as a 2027 model.
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