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 positions—on the roof, as well as on the sides and corners of the vehicle. These sensors would also have cleaning and drying functions—windshield wipers, compressed air nozzles, and so on. A serious robotaxi also wouldn’t have a low-slung coupe body design. This design makes it difficult for people to easily get in and out; not everyone will be able to use these robotaxi vehicles comfortably.
Some of these things were pointed out the time, when Musk held a glitzy unveiling at Warner Bros. movie studios in Burbank, California, back in October. If you’re going to release a robotaxi service, why make the vehicles so small, with just two seats? And how is this design safe in any way?
But the line from Krafcik that’s getting all the attention right now calls into question what kind of tricks Musk might try to pull. “There are many ways to fake a robotaxi service,” Krafcik is quoted as saying.
How could someone question Musk’s integrity when it comes to what he may unleash in Texas this summer? Well, the billionaire oligarch has stretched the truth before, including at the big event where Tesla’s Cybercab was previewed. You may recall that Musk’s event included many of his Optimus robots, something that he keeps suggesting are acting autonomously. The problem is that the robots at the event were actually being remotely controlled for the most part.
Musk has a long history of blurring the line between putting on a show and actually delivering a real product. Remember back in January 2024 when Musk posted a video of Optimus that pretended like his robots could fold a shirt? It was quite a development in a really short period of time. Except that it was fake. As you can see in the GIF below, there was someone just off-screen actually teleoperating the robot.
And it seems many people have even memory-holed Musk’s first “robot” demonstration in 2021 when he just brought up a person dancing in a skin-tight suit. The billionaire’s promises are often way ahead of what he can actually deliver.
Who knows what Musk will produce in June? As other sites like Autopian point out, Musk might just miss the promised deadline entirely. That wouldn’t be a huge surprise, especially since he’s incredibly busy right now dismantling the federal government. But we’ll have to wait and see what the wealthiest man in the world delivers.
As Electrek explains:
I do share Krafcik’s concerns about Tesla “faking” its robotaxi launch – although “faking” might not be exactly the correct term. It simply nowhere near what Musk has been promising Tesla customers for years, which is that their vehicles bought since 2016 would be self-driving without driver supervision.
There are robotaxi companies like Waymo that are currently operating, so it’s not like this is an impossible problem to solve. The question is whether Musk, specifically, can deliver on what he’s promised. And guys like Krafcik seem to be skeptical. So we’ll have to see.
