Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, introduced the Robovan as a "one more thing" moment. He asked the audience, "What happens if you need a vehicle that's bigger than a Model Y?"
The Robovan can carry up to 20 people or goods. It has sliding glass doors and a bright interior. The seats are arranged in carriage-style rows facing each other. The wheels are tucked inboard, giving the bus a floating appearance. There's no steering wheel in sight.
Musk explained the thinking behind the Robovan's design:
"One of the things that we want to do, and you've seen this with the Cybertruck, is we want to change the look of the roads. The future should look like the future."
He also made it clear that Tesla plans to make the Robovan, stating, "We're going to make this, and it's going to look like that."
Tesla shared some renderings online, showing how the Robovan could be used as a school bus, repair van, or food truck.
The company didn't give details about when the Robovan will be available or how much it will cost. They did say that the smaller Cybercab, a two-seat autonomous vehicle, should be out before 2027 and cost less than $30,000.
It's worth noting that Tesla has a history of not following through on some of its announced vehicles. For example, the Roadster supercar was announced in 2017 with a promised launch in 2019, but it's still not in production.
Making fully autonomous vehicles is tough and expensive. Tesla has often missed Musk's ambitious goals in this area. Meanwhile, companies like Waymo and Cruise have already put driverless taxis on the U.S. roads.
Source: Tesla
