Robotaxi Cybertruck fleet with Income Generation Purpose?

[T3slaDad]

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What I don't hear people discussing for the whole Robo-Taxi debate is that Elon (Tesla) is planning on making smaller and cheaper cars. Wouldn't these actually be a much better solution for the Robo-Taxi fleet. Wouldn't these cars kind of make the CT a very expensive option? Although, possible a niche market for Robo-Taxi.

I was just wondering if anyone has put this piece of the puzzle into their thinking?

One big factor that's talked a lot about (mainly for construction, contractors, etc) with CT vs any other vehicle is durability. It's not touched on a lot for robotaxi use, unfortunately. The 25k coupe is going to be nice and affordable for a starting price and all, but by then FSD will be much more expensive and getting it with your CT now could actually be cheaper. Plus it's rumored to be a coupe (or at least confirmed smaller sedan) and won't be able to handle larger, older, or luggage-bound passengers easily and therefore would miss opportunities.

But going back to your question, the CT body (and likely interior from ride along comments) are built to be extremely durable! Someone door dinging, fender bending, etc. a normal car is easy, it can cost thousands to repair those on newer vehicles. Tearing up the interior can be a very costly mistake. Examples go on and on! With any other vehicle, those repairs could cost you thousands and take your car out of service for weeks. With CT, most of those scenarios are absorbed by the enhanced durability, resulting in no time off and no expensive repairs.

My dad's a contractor. The most expensive expense he has isn't gas, it's repairing damage caused by his employees to the trucks. Construction trucks take a beating! He's excited for the CT because it'll eliminate almost all of the down time his vehicles have, let alone the repair bills.

Sure, you can let your robotaxi keep driving around while being all dinged up, but I'm sure Tesla will mandate a level of vehicle safety, cleanliness, and professionalism that separates their fleet from Uber, Lyft, and taxis. Speaking of which, did you know Uber and Lyft also have vehicle standards that you as a driver must adhere to? If your car is all beat up, it won't pass inspection. If it gets beat up and a rider complains, you have to fix it and get it inspected, or get off the platform. They have standards because riders don't want to get into sketchy vehicles.

Don't believe me? Try this little trick: how would you feel if 2 identical taxis with identical fares were in front of you, one with dings and scuffs and the other without any blemishes? Which would you get into and why?

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[Crissa]

Being as most taxis aren't owned by the driver that's in them, I wouldn't care about scuffs. Having been a driver, I know most scuffs have nothing to do with the driver anyhow - just being on the road exposes you to idiots and random chance.

My current car has: Hit and run on the freeway; hit and run while parked (guy let it roll down the hill); brake line pulled off by road debris; dog hit the back bumper and tore a hole in it; door hit by someone in a parking lot; tail hit by someone in a parking lot. And the one thing we did break: cracked the skid plate on a sand drift on a road.

7:1 damage had nothing to do with my driver skill. Heck, one happened while no one was in the car!

-Crissa

 

[ExpOpp]

Is anyone getting more than one Cybertruck and planning to use it exclusively as a robotaxi or other rental purposes? Interested to start a thread/group to share ideas, collaborate on plans/approaches, etc.

 

[Luke42]

Is anyone getting more than one Cybertruck and planning to use it exclusively as a robotaxi or other rental purposes? Interested to start a thread/group to share ideas, collaborate on plans/approaches, etc.

Where I live, you can buy a low-end rental property for about the cost of a Cybertruck.

Owning robotaxis and owning rental properties are competing for my capital.

While rental properties have a low market-driven return, the tech stack is established and refined.

Robotaxis have an uncertain future, both in engineering and legal terms. The best returns from a rogotaxi business are likely to be during the brief period where I would be the only robotaxi operator in town, and would have a cost-advantage over the existing taxi operators -- and those folks are already really good at managing their costs. Long-term, the robotaxi business is going to look like a combination of the taxi business and the home rental business -- with low market-driven returns.

Is that a business I want to be in? Perhaps, but that's going to be a numbers-driven decision. I'd like to see more of those engineering and legal uncertainties addressed before I start putting any of my own money on the line.

In the meantime, low-end rental properties are available, and are a well understood business/investment.

Business CT reservations will only occur when a have a clear path to a profit, written out in a clear business plan.

I plan to use the CT I've reserved for personal use.

 

[Luke42]

When I say the existing taxi operators in my town are really good at managing their costs, I mean they mostly drive reliable high-mileage used cars.

They're driving around in decade-old Toyotas for the most part.

Also, because a lot of our taxi business is taking traveling professors and business people to the airport, there are more minivans than you'd expect. It makes perfect sense when you see them loading/unloading at the local commercial airport.

Also, out local commercial airport has a list of every taxi company in town. Just looking at the list (and looking at contact information) tells you a lot about the business. Add in Uber/Lyft, and you get a full picture.

Using Tesla robotaxis doesn't magically change the business. Demand is what it is. The ease of using Uber/Lyft adds to demand, but that demand-increase has already happened. So, the question is: given the local demand, how do you serve it most profitably?

Robotaxis are likely to have an edge here, at least for a while -- but it's not magical money-making pixie dust.

 

[M4TT_Fullerton]

I'm analyzing the business case for operating a few trucks on the Tesla Network once FSD goes live. Income/Expense estimates I've seen are all over the place. A lot of variables left to pin down.

Question for the group though- what's your least favorite part of using Uber/Lyft?
1) The drivers
2) The vehicles
3) The platform

 

[timjwright2.0]

Is anyone planning to buy a Tesla with the sole purpose of earning income from deploying it as a robotaxi? According to Tesla it could earn you as much as $30,000 per year.

I have reservations for 12 cyber trucks for that purpose. I reserve them every two months to at a time for six months. The trick will be financing of course. Maybe Tesla will offer financing for those who are going to use it solely on the Robotaxi network. I can dream!

 

[Crissa]

Question for the group though- what's your least favorite part of using Uber/Lyft?
3) The platform

This is easy. The platform. Expressly violating the law, both labor and safety, while excluding legal competition is the worst part.

-Crissa

 

[MEDICALJMP]

I have reservations for 12 cyber trucks for that purpose. I reserve them every two months to at a time for six months. The trick will be financing of course. Maybe Tesla will offer financing for those who are going to use it solely on the Robotaxi network. I can dream!

Question, are you going to position them all I. Orem, UT or are you putting them throughout UT or other states? At 18 square miles and a population of 98,000 I am concerned you have an over concentration in your market.

 

[timjwright2.0]

Question, are you going to position them all I. Orem, UT or are you putting them throughout UT or other states? At 18 square miles and a population of 98,000 I am concerned you have an over concentration in your market.

I’m waiting to see how it all shakes out for concentration. I believe that the Tesla network will be very popular yet not too many will be willing to have their cars available during peak times since the want to use them. But we will see. I also think that the cybertruck will be uniquely popular for Anything from a Home Depot run to weekend camping.

 

[Cyberpunk 2021]

A lot of people in this thread are stating a position on when they think Tesla Network (for those unaware of the intended ridesharing app name) will be available. And as far as I can tell, no one has evidence for their claim. Some references made regarding projected time frames Elon has made. That's about as close to evidence as anyone has gotten.

Waymo is operating in Phoenix, Arizona since October 2020. They're collecting fares from designated beta testers. Waymo was operating even longer on Google property in California.

Zoox, who was bought by Amazon for 1.2 billion last summer, is currently beta testing, without a driver, in San Francisco and Las Vegas.

Mobileye was bought by Intel years ago for well over 10 billion. Mobileye used to be part of Tesla, which is likely why its valuation was so much higher than Zoox.

Uber has invested billions into self-driving (keep in mind, Uber only turned a profit within the last few quarters) and eventually gave up when someone else bought their software company.

Virtually everyone in the business is acknowledging that Tesla will be the first to achieve Level 5 Autonomy. The only exception I'm aware of is that Waymo claims to be ahead of Tesla. In April 2019 (Autonomy Day), Elon claimed Tesla Network would be 'feature complete' by the end of 2020. That didn't happen -- this is after all Elon time. At the beginning of 2021, he said it will be 'feature complete' by the end of this year.

Stop pretending you understand what's happen. As far as I can tell, none of you do.

Listen very carefully -- Tesla is the only company that intends to use privately owned vehicles as a part of its fleet. That means all these other companies will be running some type of Robotaxi using a vehicle that CANNOT be driven by a human and will not be privately owned. Tesla is the only exception. These other companies, who are competing with Tesla, know that Tesla is winning. And despite this, they were still willing to buy Zoox, Mobileye, and develop Waymo for billions of dollars. This is going to be a trillion dollar industry.

If that point hasn't landed, you need to read that last paragraph again. If it still hasn't landed, just do the rest of us a favor and stop making claims about autonomy. You aren't qualified to have an opinion.

 

[Crissa]

Waymo is operating in Phoenix, Arizona since October 2020. They're collecting fares from designated beta testers. Waymo was operating even longer on Google property in California.

Waymo is taking rides from the public now. It's an open beta. No more safety drivers.
https://waymo.com/apply/

They've been running on the streets between Google campuses in not-testing-mode for about five years. That was a different and specific vehicle from Waymo's full-sized cars. They were a little two-seat pod with a round instrument atop.

-Crissa

 

[Cyberpunk 2021]

Waymo is taking rides from the public now. It's an open beta. No more safety drivers.
https://waymo.com/apply/

They've been running on the streets between Google campuses in not-testing-mode for about five years. That was a different and specific vehicle from Waymo's full-sized cars. They were a little two-seat pod with a round instrument atop.

-Crissa

Technically there are safety drivers who are remote and can take over if an unresolvable situation occurs. To what degree are they watching, I have no idea. But the total fleet is 600 Chrysler Vans and supposedly half of those are presently on the road in Phoenix. I have my doubts they are rotating 300 people who are paying attention 100% of the time.

Thanks for updating me on rides available to the public.

 

[FullyGrounded]

My CyberTruck will not be used as a taxi, other than carting me, my friends, or loved ones around from place to place.

Now, this is not to say that I will not entertain the thought of buying additional CyberTrucks to rent out as taxis. I am diversifying my income streams, and that may well be a good additional stream one day. If so, I might consider buying a mix represented by 6 CyberTrucks trimotor, 10 Model S Plaids, and 4 Roadsters. Then, hire a college kid to program my system to self operate, complete with scheduled maintenance and other unscheduled events.

It could be an amazing way to have a secondary car when I want, just schedule to use the roadster for a sexy beach outing, or a model S for a night out with my woman. peace