Tesla wants to introduce the first automated taxi

Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to introduce the company's long-announced robotaxi on Friday evening.

Until recently, it remained unclear whether a near-production prototype or a vague concept was being shown. The car has two seats and hinged doors that open upward, Bloomberg Financial Service wrote, citing people familiar with the matter. It will be shown at Warner Film Studios in Los Angeles.

Musk has repeatedly announced since 2016 that Tesla will soon achieve a breakthrough in the field of self-driving. He also promised years ago that all Tesla owners would be able to send their cars to the robotaxi platform to earn money. In fact, Tesla's “Autopilot” is still a driving assistance system in which the driver is always in charge and must be ready to take control at any time.

Google Waymo is moving forward

There are already actual robot cars out there, most notably from Google's sister company Waymo. Their cars make more than 100,000 trips carrying passengers in four American cities every week without a human behind the wheel. In San Francisco in particular, Waymo's converted electric Jaguars are part of the cityscape.

Unlike Waymo and other robotaxi developers, Musk has previously insisted that self-driving cars can only be created using cameras and without more expensive laser radars. This has so far held Tesla back when it comes to autonomous driving.