Elon Musk predicts Tesla will have "robotaxis" on the road next year
Tesla CEO Elon Musk's latest big prediction is that the auto company will have a fleet of autonomous "robotaxis" out by 2020.
"I feel very confident predicting autonomous robotaxis for Tesla next year," Musk said Monday during an event for investors in Palo Alto, California. He said he expects to have more than a million of them on the road in 2020.
Musk said drivers who own these Tesla cars will be able to add their vehicle to a ride-sharing app, which could compete with similar apps like Uber and Lyft. Owners could send the cars out autonomously to pick up riders, and Tesla would take 25 to 30 percent of revenue from the trips.
Musk claimed that Tesla owners who use their cars in the ride-sharing network could earn $30,000 a year from the rides. He also said a fleet of robotaxis would be introduced to areas where there are not enough Tesla car owners for the ride-share network.
Musk had few specific details to back up his prediction. He said the company "won't have regulatory approval everywhere," but he is "confident we will have at least regulatory approval somewhere."
Musk did not say where the company hopes to roll out robotaxis, what kind of regulations they would need or how far the company is in the approval process, if at all.
He did, though, acknowledge his habit of missing deadlines for his ambitious proposals. "Sometimes I am not on time. But I get it done and the Tesla team gets it done," he told investors.
Tesla did not immediately return requests for comment from CBS News.
Musk said the robotaxis would be made possible by a new microchip in all Tesla vehicles that will give them full self-driving capability. Current Tesla models have an autonomous driving feature, but they do not meet the industry standards for being full self-driving cars.
Musk had previously said that Tesla would have full self-driving cars in 2018. Uber and Lyft are among the other companies that have promised to someday launch a network of self-driving cars.
The announcement comes as Tesla continues to struggle with its stock price and profits. Tesla shares have fallen 21 percent this year, wiping out nearly a third of the $3 billion the company reported having at the end of its quarter last September.
