Elon Musk held Tesla's second quarterly 2024 earnings conference call earlier this week, where he told investors that net income had fallen 45 percent and its electric vehicle deliveries had declined, according to The Financial Times.
As a result, Tesla's share price fell 10 percent when trading opened on Wednesday, but CEO Elon Musk shrugged off the bad news and used the platform to talk about some big future plans.
Although the unveiling of Tesla's Robotaxi project has been officially delayed until October (we were expecting to see it in August), Musk said that turning its vehicles into a “giant autonomous fleet” would change the company's financial situation, suggesting it could increase its current valuation sixfold.
But that wasn't all, as Elon continued to reveal big plans for 2025 and beyond. Here's what he promised and how likely it is to actually come to fruition.
6. Autonomous vehicles
Musk is pushing his fully self-driving technology hard right now, betting much of Tesla's future on the fact that we'll all be sitting back while our vehicles do all the hard work for years to come.
Musk has used the phrase “by the end of the year” every year since 2019 in reference to achieving true autonomous driving and did not break with tradition during the recent earnings call.
Currently, its FSD software requires the driver to pay attention at all times and be ready to take over, meaning it is little more than a full cruise control system. Musk said he would be “surprised” if Tesla didn’t have unattended autonomous driving next year.
Although fully autonomous vehicles and robotaxis are already in use in some parts of the world, they are still heavily guarded and only allowed to operate in locations with very strict geofences.
Similarly, those passenger vehicles that allow “hands-free” driving are again limited to a very strict set of criteria, usually when traveling slowly in highway traffic.
Sure, Tesla could convince lawmakers to allow some level of autonomy, but fully “unsupervised” autonomous driving in passenger cars is still a long way off… for everyone.
5. Optimus Robot
Tesla's humanoid robot, capable of performing repetitive or dangerous tasks, was intended to be produced and sold to the general public in 2025, but this project, like so many others in the Tesla saga, has been delayed.
Musk revealed that the second generation of his Optimus robot would enter “reduced production for internal Tesla use next year” and likely won’t be offered to outside companies in mass production until 2026.
So don't worry, robots aren't coming to take your job just yet.
4. Tesla Roadster
The next-generation Roadster was unveiled in 2017 and we're still waiting with bated breath for a proper update on the project. Sadly, Musk reiterated that it would go into production next year during the recent earnings call, which is surprising given that it's been delayed every year since its initial unveiling.
Elon has previously boasted about its 0-60 mph acceleration time of under 2 seconds, its top speed of over 250 mph, and the fact that rocket boosters could even see it fly for short periods of time, but we've yet to see one do laps in a parking lot, so take all of that with a grain of salt.
3. Affordable electric vehicles
The media went crazy when they heard that a sub-$25,000 Tesla was on the horizon, suggesting that a Model 2 could increase range and provide an all-electric alternative to mass EV adoption.
However, Musk subsequently shelved plans to introduce a new “boxless” manufacturing process, which he said would reduce production costs that could then be passed on to the consumer – a key point for any affordable electric vehicle.
The company later confirmed that Robotaxi will be the only vehicle to run on an entirely new platform, suggesting that any hints of a Model 2 are off the table.
Despite this, Musk said that “more affordable models remain on track to begin production in the first half of 2025” during the earnings call. Whether that means cheaper versions of existing models or an entirely new brand remains to be seen.
2. Robotaxis
The first unveiling of Tesla's Robotaxi has already been delayed, with the company's publicity manager confirming that we won't see the project in person until October of this year. But even that date could be subject to negotiation.
During the earnings call, Musk was typically vague about specific timelines and declined to say when we might see it in action, stating that the company will be able to take its first rides “when [we can] achieve fully unsupervised autonomous driving,” something we've already learned won't happen until next year… or the year after that… or the year after that.
We expect to see a Robotaxi concept next year, no doubt, hence the three-star probability rating, but a fully functioning network could still be a long way off.
1. Tesla semi-trailer
Tesla has been testing and refining its big 18-wheeler electric truck for some time, and officially delivered one of the first models to PepsiCo in 2022, but the company has been eerily silent on how many it has produced or sold since then.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Daimler Truck CEO Martin Daum claimed that his company sold 15 electric vehicles for every one Tesla managed to sell. He went on to explain that the EV company lacked the scale, product portfolio, and service network needed to truly compete.
But during the earnings call, Musk said the Semi was on track to “start production” in late 2025, suggesting the models that have found homes are still pre-production units.
After investing $3.6 billion in its Nevada factory, Tesla looks set to begin pushing the project in earnest next year.
