In addition to the autonomous robot taxi Cybercab During the We, Robot event, Tesla also presented a completely new vehicle for itself – the Robovan autonomous van. It is also designed for autonomous use without the involvement of a human driver.
Tesla Robovan can be used to transport up to 20 passengers or cargo. The configuration demonstrated at the presentation was the version for transporting people. Tesla has posted several photos on its website so that those interested can see what the interior of the van might look like.
Even the passenger configuration seems to have considerable cargo space. This could be useful for use as an airport shuttle.
Such a vehicle could be useful for shuttle services that require frequent pickups (e.g., airport shuttles or student buses), for municipalities that do not have enough passengers for a regular 80-passenger bus, and for last-mile delivery through the city in a cargo configuration.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that Robotaxi will be able to reduce the cost of transportation to about 20 cents per mile, but that Robovan will improve this figure to 5-10 cents per mile.
The design of Tesla Robovan is undoubtedly quite unusual and futuristic. It can be assumed that it will be partially preserved for the production models. However, it seems doubtful that the ground clearance of about 1-2 inches on the demonstrator car will be sufficient on city roads.
Unlike Cybercab, Tesla has not announced a release date for Robovan.
Source: electrek
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