For those who came in late, Mush has claimed that every home will have an affordable robot and that Tesla would have a model out in 2023. It never happened, so investors watched closely when he showed off the newest model of Optimus robots as part of its extravagant, in-person Cybercab reveal.
The robots mingled with the crowd, served drinks, played games with guests, and danced inside a gazebo. Most surprisingly, they could even talk.
But like many things Musk, it was all talk and no substance. Attendee Robert Scoble posted that he’d learned humans were “remote assisting” the robots, later clarifying that an engineer had told him the robots used AI to walk, spotted Electrek. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a note that the robots “relied on tele-ops (human intervention)”.
So, basically the robots were giant puppets. The clue was that they all have different voices or that their responses were immediate, with gesticulation to match.
Another robot — or the human voicing it — told an attendee in a stilted impression of a synthetic voice, “Today, I am assisted by a human,” adding that it’s not fully autonomous. (The voice stumbled on the word “autonomous.”)
It is not quite as bad as the time that Musk hired a dancer to pretend to be a robot, but still pretty grim.
The event was a general disaster for Musk. His self-driving cyber cab and van failed to impress anyone. For example, the cyber cab had seating that would be difficult for the elderly or disabled to sit in. It also looked like his cyber truck, which is only popular with Russian-backed warlords.
It also only carries two people and has no steering wheels or pedals making it impossible to sell in some US states. This means that, after the event, analysts at Jeffries published a note titled “We, underwhelmed.”
Analysts at Barclays said the revelations failed to highlight any near-term opportunities for Tesla, instead prioritising Musk’s vision for a fully autonomous driving future.
“As expected, as prior Tesla product unveils, the event was light on the details, and instead emphasised the vision underpinning Tesla’s growth endeavours in AI/AV [autonomous vehicles],” Barclays’ analysts wrote.
They added that the public didn’t “get any near-term updates on FSD progress, or data reflecting improvement in the system.”
Piper Sandler analysts wrote in a report that “most trading-oriented firms will be underwhelmed by the robot unveiling.” At the moment, it can’t be sold in many American states. After the event, shares in Tesla fell by nine per cent.
It is worthwhile pointing out that Tesla is having a rough time anyway. Not only does it have to pay Musk millions, but it also has to deal with the fact that many of his antics and political views are the opposite of the company’s target market.
