Musk’s long-awaited We, Robot reveal left investors and analysts unimpressed. Elon Musk has been promising the arrival of fully autonomous vehicles since 2016, and last Thursday’s reveal of the Cybercab was expected (by Musk) to be a pivotal moment for Tesla — but it only stoked investor doubts about Tesla’s ability to deliver, said CNBC, and resulted in a nearly 9% drop in stock shares.

Not buying it, literally. Musk’s net worth also saw a USD 15 bn dip following the event. The market reaction was swift, with analysts labeling the event “underwhelming,” and others criticizing the lack of near-term updates on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature progress.

Mr. Promises promises again. Musk once again aimed too high, projecting that Tesla will have the Cybercab in production by 2027 and available for under USD 30k. Analysts were quick to point out that the tech mogul provided no real details about how Tesla planned to achieve these goals, including where the cars will be manufactured or how costs would be reduced to fulfill said price tag.

The event also highlighted Tesla’s focus on its Full Self-Driving feature, with Musk stating that unsupervised FSD could be ready in Texas and California as soon as next year. Yet, much like the Cybercab, the vision for FSD is far from reality — the technology Musk insists on implementing still requires human intervention and nothing was provided to prove otherwise. Instead of using lidar and sensor-based tech for FSD — tried and tested tech implemented successfully by several companies like Waymo, who rolled out fully autonomous cars last year — Musk insists on relying on camera input, notoriously susceptible to weather-related failure.

The unveiling took a confusing turn with the introduction of Musk’s Optimus robots. A fleet of humanoid robots under development by Tesla stiffly walked out amongst the crowd as Musk promised a functional android that could “do anything” including various chores, babysitting, and “[serving] drinks.” While Optimus robots in promotional videos functioned to implement basic tasks like watering plants, those revealed in person did nothing but wave to the audience, with a few holding a cup of ice.

One more promise: In 2023, Musk had promised that Optimus would be performing “useful tasks” and available to the public by the end of last year. The robot, according to Musk, will be priced in the same range as the Robotaxi at USD 20k, produced “in high volume, ultimately millions of units,” and eventually cure poverty. Musk did not provide any details on how that would be achieved.

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