Oh, that's super cool. I'm sorry, I totally missed all of that news. Thanks for that.
While I know Elon is famously optimistic on timelines, I'm excited to see how this goes. An affordable EV is so incredibly important to the energy transition for the world.
A more exciting aspect to me is the recent development of the Tesla Semi. They finally started construction on that one and am following the drone footage someone shoots. They are about two weeks in and starting to make some headway.
That is also something I expect to be impactful in 2026.
Robotrucking is actually more interesting to me than robotaxi. 100% of the cargo is moved on trucks not owned by the end user (the consumer). That isnt the case with cars. Most people ride in their own vehicles, at least in developed countries.
Absolutely! The emissions from trucking transport is absolutely massive so Robotrucking could be world changing... even if they needed people for the first and last 1% of the journey (maneuvering in and out of loading bays, navigating the first and last miles, etc) the savings are potentially enormous.... but it also shows that charging infrastructure needs to be incredible and sourcing enough battery materials to power the trucks with their cargo will be really important (maybe solid state batteries can help here).
If EV SUVs are quite a bit heavier than ICE SUVs, I can't imagine what the weight of an EV Semi must be.
I agree though, EV trucks and robotrucks are very exciting and hugely impactful and I hope very smart people are working on all the challenges to get them running smoothly and safely.