California: Tesla boss Elon Musk unveiled the firm's long-awaited robotaxi, the Cybercab, at the Warner Bros Studios in Burbank, California on Thursday evening, the BBC reported.
The futuristic-looking vehicle featuring two wing-like doors and no pedals or steering wheel deposited Musk in front of an audience eager to hear details about a project he considers key to Tesla's next chapter, the report said.
At the event, billed as "We, Robot," the multi-billionaire reiterated his view that fully self-driving vehicles will be safer than those operated by humans and can even earn their owners money, through being rented out for rides.
But his projection that production on the Cybercab may begin "before 2027" raised questions about whether Musk will once again blow past his own deadlines to deliver a fully self-driving vehicle that can compete with rivals like Alphabet-owned Waymo.
"I tend to be optimistic with time frames," he quipped during the event, while discussing the Cybercab, which he said would cost less than $30,000 (pound 23,000).
Musk said, "Fully autonomous unsupervised" technology shall be available in Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y in Texas and California next year "with permission where ever regulators approve it”.
Tesla's self-driving ambitions rely on cameras that are cheaper than radar and Lidar (light detection and ranging) sensors that are the technology backbone of many competitors' vehicles.
By teaching its cars to drive, Tesla plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) trained by the raw data it collects from its millions of vehicles.