Tesla’s reveal of a robotaxi designed as a low-slung, two-seater, sporty coupe - quite the opposite of a typical taxi with room for several passengers and luggage - flummoxed investors and analysts.
But in true Musk style, he skipped over expectations of how a two-seater robotaxi would serve the needs of families headed to a restaurant or to the airport, or if he expected these to appeal only to a niche clientele.
Investors jeered the design and the lack of financial detail, with Tesla stocks tumbling 9% on Wall Street on Friday.
“When you think of a cab, you think of something that’s going to carry more than two people,” said Jonathan Elfalan, vehicle testing director for the automotive website Edmunds.com. “Making this a two-seat-only car is very perplexing.”
Interesting how this dumb thing has overshadowed SpaceX performing a chopstick landing for Starship. That’s a major achievement that suggests SpaceX will meet its goals for Starship. If Elon had a lick of sense, he’d want that to be the top headline on all the feeds.
Instead, it’s about this stupid taxi. If anyone thought Elon was still good at self promotion, this should kill it.
Oh, and he spent his after launch speech hawking a cryptocurrency scheme. So that’s great. Anybody still want to go to Mars with this guy?