Musk amps up Tesla robotaxi launch: June 22 in Austin with safety paranoia

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is intensifying promotion for the company’s robotaxi launch, scheduled tentatively for June 22 in Austin, Texas. Musk described the timing as tentative, citing that Tesla is being “super paranoid about safety.”

The robotaxi service, envisioned as a fleet of fully driverless cars transporting customers, has been promised by Musk for over five years, repeatedly described as just a year away. This launch is critical for Tesla, whose stock has tumbled 30% since its all-time high in December. The company hopes the event will “really knock investors’ socks off.”

Tesla’s brand image has shifted from an aspirational luxury car favored by well-to-do liberals to being closely associated with Musk’s controversial leadership style. His political pivot towards MAGA has coincided with a global decline in Tesla sales, though it is not the sole factor.

“Musk is busy hyping the tentative launch on June 22 of in Austin, Texas. Tentative, Musk said, because the company is being ‘super paranoid about safety.’”
“For more than half a decade, the Tesla CEO has been promising that his robotaxi service — a fleet of driverless cars shuttling customers around — was just a year away.”
“In sum: Tesla, whose stock has tumbled 30% since its all-time high in December, needs its robotaxi event, whenever it happens, to really knock investors’ socks off.”
“What began as a kind of aspirational luxury car brand popular among well-to-do liberals has, for many, become synonymous with its erratic, authoritarian-adjacent CEO. Musk’s MAGA turn wasn’t the only reason Tesla sales started tanking globally, but it certainly didn’t help.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is hyping a tentative June 22 launch of the company’s robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, emphasizing a cautious approach due to being “super paranoid about safety.” The event aims to revive investor confidence amid a 30% stock drop since December.