At the opening ceremony of Giga Texas, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he would make a special autonomous taxi (robotaxi) that would be very futuristic.
The $1.1 billion Texas Giga created in Austin is home to its new headquarters. “Large scale. Fully self-driving. There will be special robotaxi,” said Elon Musk.
For fully self-driving vehicles, Tesla has missed some of its development targets. In 2019, he said robotaxi without a human driver would be available in some US markets by 2020.
Tesla will be expanding its “Full Self-Driving” beta software to all its North American FSD customers this year.
Tesla is currently selling its advanced driver assistance system for $12,000. Tesla promises more features for the driving assistance system. The software doesn’t make the vehicle one hundred percent autonomous, but it still requires driver supervision.
The beta version, launched in late 2020, aims to allow cars to better navigate city streets. As of January, the beta version of the FSD has been installed in nearly 60,000 vehicles in the US.
Giga Texas itself is expected to become the largest car manufacturer in the US with a production target of half a million units per year.
Tesla will also start production of the Cybertruck next year as well as the humanoid robot, Optimus, Musk said.
Last month Tesla also opened the Giga Berlin, which is the first production facility in Europe.