Robotaxi Expert Suggests Elon Musk Will Try to ‘Fake’ Cybercabs in June

John Krafcik, the former CEO of the robotaxi company Waymo from 2015-2021, knows a thing or two about the driverless vehicle industry. And when he says that Tesla CEO Elon Musk might use some extremely shady tactics to fake the launch of his own robotaxi service this summer in Austin, Texas, people stand up and listen. That’s exactly what’s happening in a new interview with Krafcik, which was published in the German magazine Manager and has trickled down through English-language blogs today. The interview has gotten attention in places like Electrek and Autopian, which explain how Musk’s stated goals for the Cybercab robotaxi don’t really match with the reality of making a safe business. From Autopian’s English-language translation of Krafcik’s thoughts: If a company were serious about building a safe robotaxi business, the robotaxi wouldn’t look anything like this prototype. A serious robotaxi would demonstrate the primacy of safety; the manufacturer would place sensors in optimal ... Read full article.