CBS airs video with von Holzhausen working on a concept car
CBS
Did we see a mock-up of the Tesla $25,000 car? Buzz surged as the Sunday Morning Show on CBS aired a story on Elon Musk, centering around Walter Isaacson's biography and leveraging the occasion to interview Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla's Chief Designer. Though von Holzhausen kept his cards close to his chest, offering no new insights, the story unveiled a significant potential revelation.
On-screen, viewers caught a glimpse of von Holzhausen in front of what seemed to be a preliminary design for a compact two-seater vehicle, spawning a whirlpool of speculations. The setting further fueled the mystery, with wall-mounted renderings depicting a three-wheel vehicle resembling some Cybertruck details, teasing the possibilities of what might be in store.
Tesla through Isaacson’s lens
According to exclusive excerpts shared with Axios from Isaacson's highly awaited book, the Tesla team is not only toiling away at the elusive $25,000 vehicle but is meticulously considering its integration with the ambitious Robotaxi service. Throughout 2021 and 2022, Elon Musk and his adept team ventured into deep dialogues, navigating through myriad concepts and features aiming to redefine transportation with this groundbreaking vehicle.
The vision fostered was colossal, envisioning a future dominated by autonomous “Robotaxis,” a change so profound it threatens to consign individual car ownership to history’s scrapyard. In this brave new world, personal vehicles give way to readily available Robotaxis, eradicating the necessity for personal garages brimming with unused cars.
Revelations from Isaacson’s forthcoming book
Yet, as Isaacson unfolds in his biography, amidst the grand envisioning of a Robotaxi future, Musk’s team remained grounded, recognizing the present need for affordable electric vehicles, thus breathing life back into the $25,000 car concept. This vehicle seeks to marry affordability with avant-garde technology, aspiring to extend the reach of electric vehicles to a wider swath of society.
Titled "Elon Musk," Isaacson's tome promises a deep dive into the genesis of this revolutionary vehicle, a venture that saw Musk grapple with the dual challenges of adhering to Tesla's renowned quality standards while catering to a broader demographic. It stands as a testimony to Musk's relentless drive to push the frontiers of technology and innovation.
Questions swirl: what form will this $25,000 vehicle take? Can it genuinely revolutionize personal transportation? Gleaning insights through Isaacson’s meticulous narration fan the flames of anticipation and grant readers an intimate portrayal of the mastermind, Elon Musk.
Walter Isaacson's Thoughts on Elon Musk
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Just over a week into the Robotaxi launch, Tesla began laying the groundwork for a more scalable remote supervision model, which will be key to achieving success with the Robotaxi Network.
About a week ago, Elon Musk posted on X that Tesla will likely reach the crucial safety threshold to enable this shift within a month or two. While that means at least another month of in-vehicle Safety Monitors, it does provide us with a timeline of what to expect.
As soon as we feel it is safe to do so.
Probably within a month or two. We continue to improve the Tesla AI with each mile driven.
This timeline came in response to a question about Tesla’s plans for the ratio of autonomous vehicles to remote supervisors. The more vehicles that a single human can supervise, the better, especially if that number can be reduced to something drastic, like a 100:1 ratio. A single human operator would be able to manage an entire city of Robotaxis, which will be critical to make the Robotaxi Network turn a profit.
While Tesla works towards that ambitious future, it is also taking immediate steps to improve the current user experience during the Austin pilot program, where 15-minute wait times have become the norm.
Solving for Wait Times
According to Eric E, one of Tesla’s principal engineers on Robotaxi, the current 15-minute wait times are a classic logistics challenge. The supply of vehicles is lower than the current demand for rides. To solve this, there’s a two-pronged solution for Tesla.
First, Tesla is directly increasing supply by hiring more Safety Monitors/Vehicle Operators in Austin, even hosting an on-site hiring event.
We're looking to hire more Vehicle Operators in Austin, TX to accelerate Robotaxi deployment. We will be hosting an onsite hiring event next Thursday. Please consider applying to the official job posting and completing this hiring event form:
Second, Tesla is working to make FSD and the Robotaxi fleet management software faster and smarter. This means they are utilizing the data from the pilot to better orchestrate the fleet by predicting demand and pre-positioning vehicles in prime locations to reduce wait times. After dropping someone off, the vehicle can start traveling to areas of higher demand, even if someone hasn’t booked a ride yet.
Next Up: Remote Supervision
These immediate fixes are all in service of that much larger goal. Scaling the Robotaxi Network isn’t just about having more cars; it’s about increasing the number of vehicles a single human can safely supervise remotely, which is a requirement for Robotaxi to turn a profit.
Elon’s comments give us this timeline. A more flexible and favorable ratio of 3:1 (although still far from the ideal 100:1) is likely to be achieved within a few months.
Tesla is committed to safety, as evidenced by the safety monitors in the vehicle. A single incident could not only tarnish the public’s view of the Robotaxi Network but could also halt Tesla’s operations altogether.
The data gathered from more Robotaxis on the road is crucial to the whole project. Tesla is gathering more data and issuing newer FSD builds specific to the Robotaxi.
As FSD requires less remote oversight per mile driven autonomously, Tesla can safely increase the number of vehicles per remote supervisor, moving the service closer to its ultimate goal.
Tesla has laid out an aggressive roadmap for the Robotaxi Network and its next few phases. We’ll have to wait and see just how this goes over the next few months, and whether they feel comfortable enough to increase the geo-fence and remove safety monitors.
Following the recent news of Grok being almost ready for Tesla vehicles, Elon Musk confirmed on X that the next major step is with Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid Robot. xAI’s advanced Grok models will eventually serve as the voice and brain for Optimus. This will be a convergence of Musk’s two biggest AI ventures — Tesla and xAI.
This will combine a physically humanoid robot - the brawn - with the new brains, Grok. This integration is more than just giving Optimus a voice - it suggests that Tesla is thinking ahead and possibly intends to use Grok to understand the environment around Optimus, while FSD will handle the robot’s movements.
The combination of Optimus and Grok creates a relationship where each component plays to its strengths.
For years, Tesla’s robotics team has been focused on the immense challenge of physical autonomy. Optimus learns complex tasks by observing humans, basically training itself through video by watching humans. This helps Optimus develop the physical dexterity needed to work in the real world. This is the brawn - the ability to navigate, manipulate objects, and perform useful work.
Grok provides the conversational brain. It adds a layer of natural language understanding, reasoning, and interaction. Instead of needing a computer, a specialized app, or pre-programming commands to give Optimus instructions, a user will be able to simply talk to it in a natural way. This makes Optimus infinitely more approachable and useful, especially for tasks in a dynamic environment, such as work or at home.
xAI and Tesla
Viewed from a different perspective, this move isn’t just about upgrading one product. It is the clearest evidence that xAI and Tesla are collaborating together to build a single, unified AI platform. Musk’s biographer, Walter Isaacson, believes Tesla and xAI will merge. Seeing Tesla and xAI both play critical roles in creating Optimus makes us believe that it may very well be the case.
Transformation to a Humanoid Robot
The confirmation of Grok in Optimus is one of the most significant milestones for the project to date. While Optimus’s ability to walk and work (and dance) is already an incredible engineering feat, it has all been physical abilities so far. Adding the ability to interact with Optimus in a human-like way will transform Grok from a machine to a true, general-purpose humanoid robot.
The ability to understand nuanced requests, ask clarifying questions, and respond intelligently is what will ultimately make Optimus a daily fixture in our lives.
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