Tesla has released a video showing robotic cleaning of the Tesla Cybercab. This will greatly improve the economics of robotaxi. Farzad and others have estimated cleaning as a potentially big cost of Tesla Robotaxi operations.
If cleaning with robots drops the cost of robotaxi operations to $100 per month for 3400 miles of operation then cost per mile goes from 37.3 cents to 30 cents.
Farzad also has a large part of costs being the insurance. Tesla will self-insure so actual safety improvements will reduce the cost of robotaxi operations.
Tesla has released a new video of its robot vacuum cleaner for its Robotaxi’s. pic.twitter.com/hDfrV6rFXR
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) January 31, 2025
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FSD when?
It will be interesting to see how the self-insurance works out, especially in expensive court cases, or is this all to be no-fault insurance?
The liability issue is keeping FSD off the roads more than technical proficiency now. FSD is almost as good as humans, though with different and sometimes unpredictable risks in situations that humans handle easily.
If Tesla can solve that – plus clean cars quickly and efficiently (and where will this happen, along with recharging? At retrofitted existing charge lots?) – than robotaxis may actually work.
Insurance costs are not negligible. But cams and other data reduce the chance of frauds, accidents,… Things are clearer. Nevertheless there is still lots to do, before full self driving can actually be implemented.