Thought Leadership
Tesla wants to secure “Robotaxi” and “Robobus” as brand names. The electric car manufacturer’s applications to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) cover both vehicles and transportation services.
In recent years, the term robotaxi has come to be used to describe self-driving cars that transport people.
Tesla’s applications were submitted last week for the presentation of a robotaxi model and the concept for a self-driving bus for up to 20 people by company boss Elon Musk. They were first reported on by the blog “Electrek”, which specializes in electromobility.
Other names for presentation
Musk himself called the vehicles “Cybercab” and “Robovan” several times during the presentation. There is currently no application for “Cybercab” in the USPTO database. Meanwhile, the name “Robovan” was already secured in 2019 by Starship Technologies, a company that develops delivery robots that drive on sidewalks.
Musk had announced that Tesla’s self-driving robotaxi was expected to go into production in 2026. It will also be available to buy privately at a price below 30,000 dollars. At the same time, he himself admitted that he tends to be too optimistic when it comes to deadlines. Investors were disappointed by the lack of concrete details about the plans and caused Tesla shares to fall by around nine percent after the event.
At the same time, industry observers continue to doubt whether Tesla can achieve reliable autonomous driving with cameras alone. Competitors such as Google’s sister company Waymo also use more expensive technology such as laser radars that scan the vehicle’s surroundings. Waymo already operates a driverless robotaxi service in four US cities and makes more than 100,000 trips with passengers per week.
Remote-controlled robots
Musk also demonstrated the current version of the humanoid robot “Optimus” at the presentation on the premises of Hollywood studio Warner Bros. in Los Angeles. According to him, robots will be the most important product of all, as everyone will want to have mechanical helpers. After the 20-minute car presentation, the robots acted as bartenders and dancers, among other things. The financial service Bloomberg, among others, has now reported that some of them were remote-controlled by humans.
dpa
