For true believers who hear Musk talk but have paid little or no attention to Tesla's actual progress with autonomous driving technology, new car development, production ramping, or robotics, the event will have seemed like something of a success.
robotaxis will be viable about the time they are powered by on-board micro-fusion reactors. Which will be great bc you'll never need to plug them in or refuel.
Honestly, taxis don't need to be cheap, they need to be reliable. I'm sure a taxi company would be happy to spend $100k if it meant minimal maintenance and far less staff, since it would pay for itself pretty quickly.
The bigger question is, does it work? I'm guessing the answer to that is... no.
The more I think about the 2 seater taxi that they showed off at this event, the more I think that was originally one of the prototypes for the affordable car.
In the future, there are no potholes or imperfections of any kind. The ground and buildings are smooth, shiny, and constantly maintained to perfection somehow. Everything looks like a starship.
I took a Waymo robotaxi in San Francisco a couple weeks ago. It was easy to use and I felt very safe; generally they drive like your granny. My second ride we ended up briefly stopped behind someone trying to do a left turn in an unexpected spot, and the car wavered left and right for a moment as it tried to decide what to do, not unlike human drivers. Given Tesla's not so great record on full self driving, I think given the choice I would probably stick with Waymo.