By Chris Kirkham

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – For a businessman constantly struggling with broken promises, Elon Musk set himself quite a to-do list at Tesla's long-awaited Hollywood unveiling of its driverless robotaxis on Thursday evening.

After traversing the fake streets of the Warner Bros. film studio in a sleek, silver two-door “Cybercab” prototype, Musk promised that the company's popular Model 3 and Model Y vehicles would be able to drive in California and Texas without driver supervision next Year.

He said the company would begin building the fully autonomous Cybercab by 2026 at a cost of less than $30,000 and showcased a robovan that can transport 20 people around the city – products he said would transform cities. by “turning parking lots into parks.”

Later the dancing humanoid robots were added, which also mixed drinks at the bar. Tesla will sell these too, Musk said, ultimately for $20,000 to $30,000 each. “I think this will be the biggest product ever,” he explained.

Thursday night's electronic dance music-infused event had the hallmarks of Musk's salesmanship, but some Tesla investors and experts said they were hoping for more concrete details about how the company is transforming itself from an automaker into a titan of autonomous driving and artificial intelligence wants a solid business plan.

Tesla shares fell 5% in premarket trading on Friday.

“His vision is beautiful, but someone has to make it happen,” said Ross Gerber, a Tesla shareholder and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management. “Right now, Tesla needs to sell electric vehicles in the next 24 months. Why don’t we focus on that?”

Gerber said he's excited about products like the Cybercab and Robovan, but also hopes to see a more traditional, lower-priced mass-market vehicle the company can sell in the near future.

Musk had promised for years to sell a car expected to have a starting price of around $25,000, a promise that investors saw as crucial to attracting new customers. Reuters exclusively reported on April 5 that Tesla had abandoned this project, which initially caused Tesla shares to decline. Musk responded by posting on X later in the day that Tesla would unveil a robotaxi on August 8, which was later pushed back to October.

“YEARS OF BACKGROUND”

Tesla aims to overtake self-driving vehicle incumbents, including Alphabet's Waymo, by taking a lower-cost technological path that Musk believes will allow the company to expand its autonomous vehicles much faster than competitors.

Tesla's strategy is simpler and significantly cheaper than that of its competitors, but it has key weaknesses. Chief among them is that the AI ​​technology underlying the self-driving system makes it nearly impossible to determine exactly why an accident or other error occurred – something that could worry regulators.

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“Tesla software is at least years behind Waymo. That's the hard part. No amount of flashy vehicle design will change that,” said Matthew Wansley, a professor at New York’s Cardozo School of Law.

Tesla's competitors use similar AI and camera technology, but use so-called redundant systems and more expensive sensors for safety reasons.

Ramesh Poola, co-chief investment officer at Creative Planning, which holds Tesla shares, said he was impressed by the presentation, but “of course we were looking for more details about what exactly his future plans will be and how he plans to make money.” “ this new AI and robotics.”

Specifically, Poola said he expects regulators to pose a “major hurdle” to Musk's plans to move to unattended autonomous driving by next year. Tesla’s current “Full Self-Driving” driver assistance feature cannot be operated safely without the constant attention of a human driver.

“He showed the prototypes and there’s definitely excitement,” Poola said. But widespread adoption of autonomous cybercabs, where riders can request rides through an Uber-style app, is still “maybe three to four years away,” he said.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, Poola said, adding that he would advise his clients not to sell Tesla shares. “There are many, many ways to monetize this technology,” he said. “Cybercab may not necessarily be available next year, but there is feasibility in the future.”

Musk previously said he plans to operate a fleet of self-driving Tesla taxis that can hail passengers via an app. He didn't mention the app at Thursday's event.

Tasha Keeney, head of investment analysis at Tesla investor ARK Investment Management, said she was hoping for more details about the app.

However, Keeney said she was encouraged by Musk's timeline to offer an unattended version of his full self-driving system in Texas and California next year.

“If they can do that, I don’t see why they wouldn’t start a robotaxi service soon after,” she said.

(Reporting by Chris Kirkham in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Akash Sriram and Abhirup Roy; Editing by Brian Thevenot, Sayantani Ghosh and Christopher Cushing)