Tesla Youtuber and friend of Nextbigfuture, Warren Redlich, reports that his Tesla sources give a more plausible story around the August 8, 2024 Robotaxi event. Bloomberg had reported that there would be a two month delay for the August 8, 2024 event. The stated reason was to get more prototypes built.
Elon Musk confirmed to Warren the design change.
Warren says the way things went down was:
There was a major robotaxi cybercab design meeting a couple of weeks ago. Elon or someone on the team had a major innovative idea that would likely vastly improve either the manufacturability and efficiency of the vehicle. The idea was a stunner, perhaps something like a mechazilla tower catch for the SpaceX Starship. However, it mainly involves the front construction of the cybercab.
The Tesla robotaxi team lead told Elon that it would take about two month delay to create for a prototype. Elon said get it done as fast as you can. Elon did not agree to a two month delay.
After the Bloomberg leak, Elon was pissed and told the team this is on them. They have to do everything they can deliver on the August 8 date.
This is only a prototype and not full production. The change in the prototype design can be made but Elon said they will take the time to make the change so that they can show this and other capabilities at the event.
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