Key insights
- Elon Musk suggested the new Roadster might be the only Tesla model with manual driving in the future, as the company aims for full autonomy. Older Tesla models may require upgrades or replacement to achieve 'unsupervised full self-driving,' potentially frustrating existing FSD customers. This news highlights Tesla's long-term vision but could create near-term uncertainty regarding the value of current FSD packages.
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Someday you may not be able to actually drive your Tesla—unless you pay up for the privilege.
Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk late Wednesday offered his latest update on the status of the next-generation Roadster, the sleek two-door sports car first announced in 2017, reservations for which can be currently had for a cool $50,000 but which will likely actually cost well into the six figures. Some of the news may have frustrated those already waiting on the cars, with Musk saying the company might debut it in "a month or so; earlier this year, he'd pointed to this month, and the original target was 2020. (You can recap our coverage of Tesla's latest quarterly results here.)
"It requires a lot of testing and validation before we can actually have a demo and not have something go wrong with the demo," Musk said on a conference call with investors and analysts, a transcript of which was provided by AlphaSense. "But I think it will be one of the most exciting product unveils ever."
The call offered plenty of commentary from Musk illustrating his determination to move the company toward new businesses and efforts ranging from autonomous vehicles and robots to chipmaking. On the car front, he suggested that the high-end Roadster, which in marketing materials will reach 60 miles per hour in under two seconds, might someday be the only model to be controlled manually.
The Tesla lineup, Musk said, is"going to be almost entirely autonomous. In fact, long term, the only manually driven car will be the new Tesla Roadster."
That might apply to older models, too. Asked during the conference call about when some older Teslas might be able to obtain its "unsupervised full self driving" technology, Musk said those models would need to either be upgraded or replaced, citing technical constraints in the hardware carried on the older models.
"For customers that have bought FSD, what we're offering is essentially a trade-in," Musk said. "And we'll also be offering the ability to upgrade the car to replace the computer."
Shares of Tesla were down about 2% in recent trading. Read our full coverage of today's trading here.
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