Tesla reveals Cybercab as Waymo adds Ioniq 5

TESLA Motors CEO Elon Musk has at last unveiled the long-anticipated Cybercab, two months later than originally planned, alongside the surprise reveal of a new Robovan concept – which he pronounced as the “ro-bovan” – at Tesla’s latest product event, ‘We, Robot’.

No mention of the smaller and more affordable vehicle to slot below the Model 3 was made, however, nor was the vehicle’s technology detailed or properly demonstrated at the event, meaning Tesla’s self-driving promises over the past decade remain yet to materialise in a reliable way.

While Tesla’s history of long delays include an as-yet unrealised dream of napping all the way to work, Google’s Waymo has confirmed its mature sixth-generation autonomous tech will soon be bundled into specialised versions of the Hyundai Ioniq 5.

These cars – likely a foil against the potential for a planned Zeekr partnership to go south if huge tariffs on Chinese cars come to pass in the United States – will enter service with Waymo by around 2027 at the earliest, which is also when Tesla claims the Cybercab will become available.

Given Tesla’s past record of unmet dates, the Cybercab’s projected production timeline should be taken as a loose guide at best.

The Cybercab, borrowing its name and angular design cues from the Cybertruck, also takes themes from Tesla’s more refined Model 3 and Model Y lines to evolve the ‘cyberpunk’ style Musk has become enamoured with in recent years.

As expected, the Cybercab is claimed to be a fully autonomous battery electric vehicle (BEV), designed for driverless operation without a steering wheel or pedals.

Mr Musk claimed the vehicle will eventually move from supervised ‘Full Self-Driving’ (FSD) to full autonomy, where passengers can “fall asleep and wake up at their destination”.

By contrast, Waymo (owned by Google parent company Alphabet) is currently operating in parts of San Francisco and Los Angeles in California plus Phoenix, Arizona and Austin, Texas.

Waymo has invested tens of millions of dollars into private testing and genuine customer hours, with largely positive feedback from what it claims are around 100,000 paid customer trips each week.

The company has previously used hundreds of Jaguar I-Pace and Chrysler Pacifica cars in its fleet, but as those models reach the end of their lifecycles, Waymo is looking to spacious and more modern additions to its range.

Announcing the Cybercab on stage, Mr Musk said the vehicle centres on its potential for reducing transport costs, claiming that the operating cost of a Cybercab could be as low as $US0.20 per mile ($A0.18 per kilometre), a stark contrast to the approximately $US1 per mile operating cost of public buses in US cities.

Mr Musk further suggested the Cybercab would cost below $US30,000 ($A45,000) for private buyers – setting it between the originally promised $US35K base price of the Model 3 (of which very few were ever offered), and the expected Model 2 that the Cybercab has effectively replaced in Tesla’s release schedule.

In another Jobsian ‘One More Thing…’ move, the event also introduced the Robovan – a larger, multi-purpose vehicle designed as a fully autonomous vehicle designed to operate as a small bus or a cargo carrier.

Tesla expects the Robovan – if it ever reaches production – to carry up to 20 passengers, declaring it a potential solution for urban mass transit or logistics.

“We're going to make this, and it's going to look just like this,” Musk said on stage. “Now, can you imagine going down the streets and you see this coming towards you – that'd be sick.” 

As with many of Tesla’s initial product reveals, specific details on pricing and production timelines for the Robovan were vague – and given the oft-delayed schedules of Tesla’s previous launches, it may be some time before the Robovan becomes reality.

Perhaps the second-generation Roadster, Model 2 or mass production Semi will arrive sooner.

Mr Musk also highlighted Tesla’s adoption of inductive charging technology, claiming the Cybercab and Robovan will recharge wirelessly by parking over a charging pad.

This concept has been previewed by brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Volvo since the early 2010s, but none have yet brought it to market.

Speaking on autonomous capability, Musk reiterated that Tesla’s vehicles will continue to rely solely on AI-enabled camera systems, rather than the expensive equipment like the LiDAR systems used in the upcoming Volvo EX90, MY25 Polestar 3 and Google’s Waymo vehicles.

This approach has worked to keep Tesla’s hardware investment down, but the car-maker’s ‘Full Self Driving’ software has yet to achieve true unsupervised operation, despite previous promises that full autonomy would arrive as early as 2018, and again in 2022.

Now, Mr Musk is projecting fully unsupervised autonomous driving for the Cybercab in the next few years, though it remains to be seen how quickly regulators and the technology itself will catch up.

The presentation’s boldest claims extended beyond the automotive realm, as Mr Musk also briefly touched on Tesla’s humanoid robot project.

He suggested that Tesla’s advancements in AI, batteries, and electric motors for its vehicles could directly translate into robotics.

Mr Musk predicted that this robot, potentially priced lower than a car in the long term, would be capable of performing a wide variety of tasks – from household chores to childcare –though, as with many of Tesla’s grand visions, actual production and scalability are likely to present significant challenges.

While Tesla promises a bold future not yet in reach, autonomous taxi service Waymo is preparing to add the popular Hyundai Ioniq 5 to its fleet as part of a “multi-year, strategic partnership”.

“We recently announced the launch of Hyundai Motor Company’s autonomous vehicle foundry business to provide global autonomous driving companies with vehicles capable of implementing SAE Level 4 or higher autonomous driving technology,” said Chang Song, president and head of Hyundai Motor Group’s Advanced Vehicle Platform (AVP) Division.

“There is no better partner for our first agreement in this initiative than industry-leader Waymo.”

The vehicle will need extensive testing, however, which will not begin until late 2025, with customer trips not scheduled to begin until “years” later. The Ioniq 5 made its global debut in 2021 but received a comprehensive update earlier this year.

“The Ioniq 5 will not directly replace any of our vehicle platforms, but it will help us prepare for additional scale and growth opportunities,” Waymo spokesperson Christopher Bonelli told technology website The Verge this week.

Waymo has also been expected to add a bespoke model from Chinese giant Geely’s Zeekr brand, but recent reports suggest this may be blocked by US president Joe Biden’s move to quadruple tariffs on BEVs imported from China.

The company insists it still intends to launch the Zeekr-made vehicles, but no further details have been offered.

While those Zeekr models will be built in China, Waymo’s Ioniq 5 cars will be built at Hyundai’s new dedicated BEV manufacturing facility in the US state of Georgia.

The vehicles made for Waymo will come pre-fitted with specific autonomous-ready modifications like advanced redundancy systems and powered doors.