Tesla Missed A Perfect Opportunity To Send Its Stock Sky High At The Robotaxi Event — Here’s How
(The Gas Station is where American Cars And Racing Executive Editor Gary Gastelu vents his opinions. Feel free to let us know if you think they stink.)
The writing was on the wall. Well, make that the artwork.
Last Thursday’s Tesla Robotaxi reveal event was met with mixed reviews, with many industry and investment analysts underwhelmed by the rollout of the self-driving cabs and Robovan.
It was short on details and firm timetables for when the vehicles might go into production and operation, although the two seat, butterfly-door Robotaxis did look pretty slick.
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Despite the elaborate production, which was held on sets at the Warner Bros. Studios lot in Burbank, Calif., that were playing the role of a city of the future — complete with what were apparently less-than-autonomous robots dancing and serving drinks — it was missing something and sent Tesla’s stock off a small cliff on Friday. But that may have been less about what was shown than what wasn’t there.
Seven years since it was first revealed as a concept, the Tesla Roadster has yet to make an appearance as a production vehicle. This past February, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that it would be revealed before the end of this year and will finally be in production in 2025. “There will never be another car like this, if you could even call it a car,” he said.
That’s because he promises that it will be equipped with cold gas thrusters borrowed from SpaceX that will help the Roadster accelerate to 60 mph in something like one second and also fly … in the air.
The feature is supposed to have compressed gas tanks that can be filled by the electrical system while its driving, then offer a boost in short spurts. As far as the flying bit is concerned, Musk has said that it will be able to hover about a meter off the ground, but it’s not clear for how long.
“I think it has a shot at being the most mind-blowing product demo of all time,” Musk said in February.
While the technology is different, it certainly brings to mind Doc Brown’s DeLorean from the “Back to the Future” franchise, which brings us back to the Robotaxi reveal. Prior to the beginning of the show, which began with Musk exiting a theater and getting into a Robotaxi, he posted a photo of some of the faux movie posters that had been created for the event on X.
One of them was a riff on “Back to the Future” that said, “Drivers? Where we’re going, we don’t need drivers,” and had the title “Master Plan IV” along with an image of a Robotaxi done up like the DeLorean in flight mode.
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Just imagine, then, that instead of a bizarre Art Deco bus slowly rolling up after the Robotaxi’s debut, a Roadster had come flying through the streets of the set and landed in front of Musk. It could’ve been the all-time greatest “One More Thing” of product reveals and ideally suited for the setting.
With less than three months to go this year, it will be interesting to see if the Roadster makes a grand entrance of any type before New Year’s Eve. Given its ambitious design goals, there’s more than a good chance that it’s still not ready for the red carpet. But when it is, there may only be one place to do it right.
“Back to the Future” and “E.T.,” which was the inspiration on another poster for a movie called “A.I.” — rather than the actual “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” film that Steven Spielberg also directed, for some reason — were both produced by Universal Pictures. As it turns out, the set used for Hill Valley’s downtown area where the clock tower is still exists and is in fact part of the Universal Studios backlot tour and used for filming today.
It’s not dressed up like the future depicted in “Back to the Future II” anymore, but that was set in 2015, so it’s now the past and we’re still waiting for that hoverboard to go on sale.
Just like the Roadster.
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