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Elon’s future: Autonomous cabs, vans and robot butlers
I know you’ve seen it all over the news. Elon Musk took to the stage at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank to spotlight what he says is the future of transportation … and to show off his army of cowboy-hat-wearing robots. Will any of this make it to production and into our homes? Well, I’ll get to that.
First up, the Cybercab
It’s Tesla’s version of a self-driving robo-taxi (skip to 54:00), with no steering wheel and no pedals. Musk says it’s 10 times safer than human drivers thanks to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software.
In 2023, a Tesla Model Y in FDS mode hit a student stepping off a school bus. In April, a Model S using it hit and killed a 28-year-old motorcyclist.
A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation published in April found 542 crashes, including 14 with fatalities, occurred in Tesla vehicles with Autopilot or FSD engaged between January 2018 and August 2023.
The expected price for the Cybercab? Under $30,000. Tesla’s goal is to get these robo-taxis on the streets in California and Texas next year. In 2026, the rollout would happen all across the country. Given how long it took Waymo and Cruise to get approval for their autonomous taxis, I’m not holding my breath.
Then, there’s the Robovan
It’s an autonomous EV that fits up to 20 passengers … or all the Ikea boxes you can Tetris in. The Robovan took a lap (skip to 1:10:00) around the test course. It looks neat (and sort of like a huge toaster), but no price was mentioned.
The operating cost for the Robovan is 5 to 10 cents per mile per passenger, which is a lot cheaper than a city bus. If Elon can pull it off, this would be great, and, as he said, we can turn parking lots into parks.
The main attraction: Optimus
Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, is designed to help around the house, act as a caregiver and keep you company. They’re 5 feet, 8 inches tall; they weigh 125 pounds; and they look a lot like the bots in Isaac Asimov’s “I, Robot.” One came out to pick up a few objects and shuffle around the stage to demonstrate its range of movement.
Another Optimus model danced around in a cowboy hat (skip to 1:30:00) and passed out cocktails. Giddyap. Here’s a bunch of Optimus bots dancing (skip to 1:16:00) to “Baby Don’t Hurt Me,” because … why not?
Find and track Starlink satellites in the sky
Did you know you can spot Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites from your backyard? More than six thousand of them are orbiting the Earth. Here’s how to see them.
🩻 Elon Musk wants your medical images: Your X-rays, PET scans and MRIs will be used to train Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok. Grok will check if your doctor missed something, and submission of your medical images is free. I think Musk is brilliant, and maybe, one day, Grok will be something. For now, though, it’s a no for me. Who knows where those images end up?
Mark Zuckerberg just became the fourth-richest person in the world. Who isn’t a member of the $200 billion club? Is it … A.) Larry Ellison, B.) Jeff Bezos, C.) Elon Musk or D.) Warren Buffet?
Zero, zip, zilch, nada
Aliens out there thinking about invading Earth. Elon Musk says UFO sightings are government weapons programs — for instance, the 1950s flying saucers were really advanced U.S. spy planes. SpaceX has thousands of satellites in orbit and has never encountered an alien spacecraft.
🏠 Knock-knock! Who’s there? Elon Musk dropped $35 million on two massive homes within walking distance of each other in Austin, Texas. The big plan? A family compound for two of the three mothers of his 11 kids. Rumor has it only one mom has agreed to move in. Musk tried to keep it hush-hush, making sellers sign NDAs and offering 70% above market value. Didn’t work.
🚨 It’s not him: Elon Musk isn’t pitching crypto investments with obscene returns all over social and YouTube — they’re deepfake videos. A Michigan resident who lost $700,000 to scammers grew suspicious when, after he sent his money, he couldn’t find any info about the crypto company. Another victim in Nevada lost $220,000. Come on … you have to be smarter than to fall for this.
He’s got big dreams … and nuts: The Optimus robots at Tesla’s big event last week aren’t as advanced as Elon wants you to think. A bunch of attendees posted videos asking the bots if they were human. One hesitantly replied, “Today, I am assisted by a human.” They all have different voices, too. At $20,000 to $30,000 a pop, the final product had better be fully automated. I’d like mine to sound like Sean Connery.
Way to go, Elon: If you’ve been hit by Hurricane Helene, Starlink, the satellite internet service subsidiary of SpaceX, is stepping in to help. They’re offering free service for the first month so you can stay connected, even if your regular internet service is down. Details here.
78.7% drop in value
For X since Elon Musk took over. Yeesh. That’s based on a Fidelity disclosure valuing its stake in X at around $4.19 million. The initial investment? $19.66 million.
Just like us … sort of: Believe it or not, billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg still take out mortgage loans. Why? It provides liquidity. By not tying up their wealth in homes, they can use that cash for bigger investments. Example: Pay 5% interest on a $2 million mortgage and invest the $2 million in something earning 10%. This isn’t financial advice, but it makes sense to me.
🛰️ Mine is bigger: Jeff Bezos is way behind in the satellite internet race against Elon Musk. Starlink has about 6,000 low-orbit satellites up and running. Amazon’s Project Kuiper? Just two prototypes … so far. The FCC recently gave Amazon the go-ahead to send 3,236 satellites into space.
X marks the spot: When Elon Musk took over Twitter two years ago, he told employees they’d need to work “extremely hardcore” with “long hours at high intensity.” Those who didn’t agree within 24 hours were fired. It turns out that not responding doesn’t legally count as resignation. A canned employee got $600,000.
Which tech entrepreneur sold a game to Atari at the age of 12 and later became a co-founder of one of the most successful tech companies ever? Was it … A.) Jeff Bezos, B.) Bill Gates, C.) Steve Jobs or D.) Elon Musk?
AI madness: Elon Musk’s updated Grok image generator for X Premium and Premium+ subscribers just dropped, and it’s a wild one. Unlike other AI tools, this one creates uncensored images of real people in real locations doing some seriously weird things … like this absurd AI pic of Trump and Harris kissing.
Two down, eight to go: Neuralink successfully implanted another brain chip into a human patient. No word on when its second trial recipient had surgery, but Elon Musk says it’s “gone extremely well.” The plan is to have eight more brain chip implants completed this year. I interviewed the first recipient, Noland. Amazing guy!