Axios reported that time and time again, those around Musk urged him to return focus on his original plan of making EV models cheaper to create a “global car.” However, Musk was way too enthusiastic about robotaxis to care about anything else. Musk believed that early adopters of robotaxis would make up to $30,000 a year lending the car to others. He stated that these vehicles would become so prevalent that nobody would even need to own a car. The ambitious CEO wanted to pump out as many autotaxis as possible to make this happen, eventually landing on 20 million a year.
However, some internal debate slowed down the design process of a Tesla robotaxi. Musk was adamant that the robotaxi must have no steering wheels, pedals, or mirrors. Those around him warned him that due to regulations and the Full Self-Driving technology not being ready. Musk made it clear that he was not budging, proclaiming, “we are all in on autonomy.”
A compromise was made at that secret meeting last year. Musk would get his robotaxi dream while the $25,000 car would also get developed. What convinced the CEO was that both vehicles could be built on the same assembly line using an ultra-automated manufacturing process. After he saw the Cybertruck-esque design for both vehicles, the ball got rolling.