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21st Century Business Herald reporter Zhao Yunfan reports

The controversy over Robotaxi (self-driving taxis) caused by LuoBoKuaiPao has not stopped, but Tesla, a benchmark in the autonomous driving industry, has been reported to have delayed the disclosure date of Robotaxi.

According to media reports on July 12, citing an insider of Tesla Robotaxi, the Tesla Robotaxi, which was originally scheduled to be unveiled on August 8 this year, will be postponed for 2 months.

As for the reason for the delayed release, the insider said that it was because "the design team was told to rework some elements of the Robotaxi model."

Tesla did not respond directly to reports of the Robotaxi delay, as it seems that Tesla is already accustomed to delays in its plans.

On April 6 this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk first announced that Tesla Robotaxi would be unveiled on August 8 this year. But at the cost of the rumored upcoming Tesla economical model "Model 2" being delayed or shelved.

Due to Tesla's delay in disclosing the Robotaxi matter, Tesla's secondary market stock price plummeted by 8% at one point, but it rebounded by more than 2% in the following trading day. In the dark trading on July 15, Tesla's stock price had risen by more than 5%, almost completely recovering its lost ground.

In addition to Tesla's habitual delays, some Tesla investors also believe that delaying the release and designing a better Robotaxi is actually a good thing.

Previously, Goldman Sachs analysts pointed out that Tesla's evolving autonomous driving software and self-driving taxis are future growth areas. But it will take some time to promote the widespread popularity of self-driving taxis or to make traditional Tesla cars fully autonomous.

In fact, the setting of Tesla's Robotaxi model has always been a focus of controversy. For Musk, who has a penchant for perfect minimalism, the Tesla Robotaxi that is finally presented may be a "concept car" that cannot be driven on the road at all.

It is reported that according to Musk's vision and the inference of analysts close to Tesla, Tesla Robotaxi will not include traditional car control modules such as steering wheels, accelerators and brakes, but will be a two-seater car controlled entirely by Tesla's fully autonomous driving system (FSD).

It is worth noting that in June this year, Shanghai officials announced that Tesla FSD will soon be piloted in Nanhui New Town, Lingang New Area, Shanghai, marking the substantial advancement of Tesla's autonomous driving technology in the Chinese market. With the launch of Tesla Robotaxi, it seems possible that Tesla Robotaxi will run on the roads of Shanghai.

Earlier, Musk confirmed on social media X that Tesla chose August 8 to release Robotaxi. In addition to being the birthday of his twin daughters, it is also because "8.8" is an auspicious number in China.

But,If the design of Tesla Robotaxi does not include manual driving elements such as steering wheel, accelerator, brake, manual parking, etc., it means that it cannot obtain vehicle certification or be equipped with a safety officer. Therefore, it is very likely that it cannot be driven on the road in China, thus causing problems.

While Turnip Run has sparked heated discussions in China, Waymo, another Robotaxi operator in the US market, has also become very popular.Waymo also uses a model similar to that of multi-sensor fusion such as lidar + ordinary electric vehicles used by domestic Robotaxi players such as Luobo Kuaipao, and has been operating in North America for some time.

From this point of view, whether Tesla Robotaxi's unmanned control concept will become a reality, and whether it can be implemented in China or even North America, may still be an unknown.

"Without the control device, the Tesla Robotaxi may just be a concept car. Due to the immaturity of the technology, it may not be able to be put on the road even in the United States. In China, due to the restrictions of laws and regulations, cars without steering wheels will definitely not be able to be put on the road in China," Zhang Xiang, a visiting professor at the Yellow River Science and Technology College, told reporters. "Of course, Musk has no goal of releasing Robotaxi in China in the short term, so it is unlikely that the design of Robotaxi will be changed."

It is worth noting that after Tesla releases its second quarter report on July 26 this year, Musk will also host a financial report conference call. Even if the release of Tesla Robotaxi is really "delayed", the design process of this "concept model" is expected to be updated to a certain extent.