An image of a Tesla robotaxi “idea” was revealed within the new Elon Musk biography right now. It’s attention-grabbing, however I’d additionally take it with a grain of salt.

The Walter Isaacson biography of Elon Musk got here out right now.

In latest weeks the biographer, who has been embedded in Musk’s life for years, has been releasing excerpts with attention-grabbing details about Tesla, together with some about Tesla’s new robotaxi program, which we now know will be “Cybertruck-like” and will probably be in-built Texas earlier than Mexico.

Now that the total e book is out, a brand new image with the capability “a robotaxi idea” was launched:

It reveals a two-door, seemingly two-seater electrical compact automobile that may very well be known as “Cybertruck-like” with its sharp edge and doubtlessly chrome steel end.

Curiously, one other picture of probably the identical automobile was additionally shared within the e book, and this one is captioned “Franz von Holzhausen with an early ‘Robotaxi.’”

It’s additionally in a bit of the e book that launched Autopilot and Musk’s life between 2014-2016. Subsequently, it may very well be a really early idea.

Electrek’s Take

Whereas attention-grabbing, I’d take these footage with a grain of salt for a couple of causes. To start with, it’s not how Tesla unveils new autos.

Nevertheless, to counter my very own level right here, it’s doable that Tesla execs, like Franz, acquired fairly snug with Walter through the years since Elon was getting him full entry, and these footage may have slipped by way of Tesla’s cracks.

Secondly, it’s the reference to an “early” idea and the place it’s within the e book. These are doubtlessly tremendous early ideas that might have little to do with the manufacturing model.

By way of extra concrete data, the biographer describes a “November 2022” assembly wherein they took a couple of choices concerning the Robotaxi:

They determined that the Robotaxi can be a smaller, inexpensive, much less speedy automotive than the Mannequin 3.

This type of matches the idea, however it additionally reveals that Tesla isn’t locked in on any robotaxi design simply but – or no less than, it wasn’t till lately.