What does the Tesla robot taxi look like? Reports say it is a two-seater with doors that open upwards like butterfly wings

On Thursday, October 10th, at 7 p.m. Pacific Time, Tesla will unveil its highly anticipated "Robotaxi" (also rumored to be called Cybercab) at the Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles, California.

The event, named "We, Robot," will be livestreamed on Musk's social media platform X, and it is unclear whether Google's YouTube will also broadcast it simultaneously. Retail investors will also have the opportunity to participate, with viewing parties at North American Tesla stores.

The day before the event, mainstream financial media cited sources revealing that this "specially designed autonomous taxi" features butterfly-wing doors that open upwards and seats for two. Musk is expected to discuss details of the autonomous driving for semi-trucks as well.

On Wednesday, Tesla's stock price fluctuated lower, opening 2% down before slightly turning positive before noon, then reversing course again. However, it has risen over 12% in the past month, breaking through the 50-day moving average key technical level, rebounding 75% from its low point at the end of April.

What to Expect at the Event: Robotaxi, Robovan, Semi-Truck Autonomous Driving Features?

It is widely believed that the Robotaxi's appearance sounds similar to the "early prototype car" featured in Walter Isaacson's book "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future" published last year, but it is unknown how close it is to the final version.

Musk postponed the unveiling of the Robotaxi from August 8th to October, citing "significant changes to the front design" as the reason.

Reportedly, the Robotaxi differs from other Tesla models in that it can operate without a human driver present, potentially using a combination of cameras and computing power for navigation, without relying on the lidar sensors used by GM's Cruise and Google's Waymo autonomous vehicles, which Musk considers too expensive and unnecessary.

Some investors believe that Tesla may take the opportunity during the Robotaxi unveiling event to introduce another new vehicle, such as a Robovan that can carry a dozen or more people or be used as an autonomous delivery van.

Two sources mentioned that Musk is expected to discuss Tesla's plans for developing full self-driving (FSD) for its Semi electric truck, as well as his views on using this technology for transporting goodsHowever, there will be no demonstration video of semi-trailer trucks with full self-driving capabilities at this event.

Elon Musk himself has high hopes for this robot taxi launch event. He posted on September 11th that the release of autonomous taxi will be the most important moment for Tesla since the introduction of the "mass-market god car" Model 3 nine years ago.

When officially sending out event invitations to investors on September 25th, Musk also stated, "This will be a historic event," and will "officially unveil the mysterious future of autonomous driving."

How Wall Street Views It: Beware of the downside risk of "selling the fact," the event may disappoint

Gene Munster, managing partner of investment firm Deepwater Asset Management, warned that if this highly anticipated event only showcases some technologies that cannot truly be implemented, such as a non-moving car prototype, Tesla's stock price will face downside risks due to investor disappointment.

CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson also stated last week, "Considering Tesla's recent stock price increase and the possibility of a disappointing event, we believe the risk is high, with more downside risk than upside risk." Moreover, historically, Tesla has always seen its stock price rise before major events, only to face a "sell the fact" pattern after the event, with analysts currently seeking more visibility on mid-term profit growth.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, who is bullish on Tesla in the long term, expects Musk to provide the latest information on its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system and artificial intelligence at the robot taxi event, including more details on the next-generation platform, Tesla's breakthroughs in FSD and AI, and various strategic stages for the launch of autonomous taxi in the coming years.

Renowned automotive analyst Adam Jonas from Morgan Stanley predicted last week that the robot taxi event will include a demonstration of the latest version 12.5 or higher of Full Self-Driving (FSD), as well as a demonstration of autonomous taxi driving "on closed routes." He expects the first commercial launch of Tesla's robot taxi to be around late 2025 or 2026.

However, he also tried to temper the overly high market expectations, emphasizing that Tesla currently only has a permit for testing autonomous driving cars with human supervision, and does not yet have a permit for testing or deploying driverless autonomous cars. As for Musk's hint at "other products to be released alongside the robot taxi" during the second-quarter earnings call, analysts at Morgan Stanley suggested that it may be more of a promotional nature:

"Can we see electric planes? A boat? Or the latest generation of Optimus robots flipping burgers at Tesla restaurants? Not quite sure yet. But investors should be reminded that such events serve multiple purposes, including talent recruitment, marketing, and consumer education."

Some analysis also points out that Tesla's highly anticipated autonomous taxi is unlikely to have an immediate positive impact on its financial performance. However, given the significant growth potential in the autonomous ride-sharing market, its long-term prospects are still promisingTracking website Electrek's editor-in-chief, who follows Tesla and electric vehicle news, said that actually Tesla's event this time did not offer too many surprises. The self-driving van may be a good surprise, especially considering that Tesla is likely to face some criticism due to the robotaxi having only two seats, and the company has been promising to launch an electric van for many years:

"I think launching a van would be more impactful than relying on Tesla to first solve the self-driving problem. Because Tesla not only needs to demonstrate significant progress in self-driving, but also needs to show a clear path to achieving this goal in the short term.

But its FSD program with driver supervision has lost a lot of credibility. According to Musk, the program was supposed to achieve unsupervised self-driving at the end of each year for the past five years.

Now, Tesla plans to launch a 'dedicated to self-driving' car, which may not have an accelerator pedal or steering wheel, but has not yet fulfilled its self-driving promises on millions of existing vehicles. This doesn't look good."

Some media also reported that Musk is betting Tesla's future on self-driving taxis, sacrificing the development of a much-anticipated $25,000 cheaper electric car, cutting teams focused on other projects, and downplaying the impact of the company's slowing sales. "Therefore, when Musk finally unveils the prototype of the self-driving taxi on Thursday night, he will need to prove a lot."