Elon Musk Expects Tesla Robotaxi Launch For June: 'These Things Happen Slowly, Then All At Once'

Tesla Inc TSLA plans to launch its robotaxis in Austin, Texas in June, according to CEO Elon Musk.

What To Know: Musk, in an interview aired on Tuesday’s edition of CNBC’s “Power Lunch,” explained that the robotaxi rollout will start small and ramp up to hundreds of thousands of vehicles as soon as next year.

“We want to be very careful with the first introduction of unsupervised full self-driving, meaning the car’s driving around with no one in it,” Musk said.

Musk expects about 10 vehicles on the roads in the first week, about 1,000 driverless vehicles on the roads within a few months, and hundreds of thousands of vehicles capable of unsupervised full self-driving on the roads by the end of next year, “if not over a million.”

When CNBC’s David Faber asked why Musk is so confident, the CEO said Tesla vehicles are already driving themselves 24/7 with drivers in them, and the company has seen “essentially no interventions.”

Musk said that the company expects to unveil a business model for full self-driving similar to Uber Technologies Inc UBER and Airbnb Inc ABNB, where Tesla owners can rent out their vehicles when they aren’t using them.

“It’s a way for Tesla owners to earn revenue. Instead of having your car sit in the parking lot, your car could be earning money,” Musk said. “These things happen slowly, but then all at once.”

See Also: Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja Receives Record $139 Million Pay, Surpassing Most CEOs

Why It Matters: Tesla bears have raised concerns about the company’s first-quarter performance, pointing to a 9% year-over-year decrease in sales as automotive revenue dropped 20%.

Musk also told CNBC that the company has seen a “major rebound in demand” since the first quarter.

Production numbers were also well below those of the same period last year, but shares moved higher following the report as Musk announced plans to reduce time spent working on government initiatives and provided optimistic commentary around full self-driving and the company’s humanoid Optimus bots. Musk reiterated that vision on Tuesday.

“Really the only things that matter long term are autonomy and Optimus. Those overwhelmingly dominate the future financial success of the company,” Musk said.

Tesla has not provided an exact date for its robotaxi launch in Austin.

Musk's visionary rhetoric is often scrutinized due to overpromising and underdelivering on ambitious projects, especially regarding Tesla robotaxis.

TSLA Price Action: Tesla shares were well off their highs for the session, but still up about 0.45% at $343.58 at the time of publication Tuesday. Tesla’s stock has gained approximately 44% over the past month, according to Benzinga Pro.

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Photo: courtesy of Tesla.