Tesla is set to unveil its robotaxi prototype on October 10, 2024, and unlike the majority of the company’s events that take place on its own premises, this one will reportedly be held at Warner Bros. iconic movie studio in Burbank, California.
Tesla was originally planning to take the wraps off its robotaxi design on August 8, but the event was delayed to October 10. According to CEO Elon Musk, the delay was to give the team behind the project more time to complete an “important design change to the front” of the vehicle.
With the event now set to take place next month, neither Tesla nor Musk have said where the event will be held, but according to a report from Bloomberg, it won’t be at Giga Texas. Instead, the company will reportedly unveil its robotaxi design at the Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank, California.
The decision to pick a movie studio seemed like a strange one, with initial speculation suggesting Tesla was planning to use the studio’s realistic street sets to showcase the capabilities of the robotaxi in environments that closely mimic real-world scenarios. By doing so, Tesla could control the demonstration environment, ensuring a smooth and impressive debut without the unpredictability of actual city streets.
However, that would go against how Tesla has promoted its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system, in that it can operate on any road in the US or Canada. But it appears there is more to the story.
On Sunday noted Tesla hacker @greentheonly shared on X that in preparation for the event, Tesla has ramped up its data collection efforts, particularly around the Warner Bros. studio. Green noted that data collection has also increased in “other areas like Tesla Diner, various [San Francisco] and Bay Area” location.
Green also shared an image showing the area that Tesla has been focusing on around the Warner Bros. Studio, adding that this data collection program started around August 28, 2024.
So I guess recent Bloomberg news piece explains why Tesla started extensive data collection in “WB Studio” area 4 or so days ago.
— green (@greentheonly) September 1, 2024
This is in addition to other areas like Tesla Diner, various SF and Bay Area pieces and so on. pic.twitter.com/NO4Bprugak
This information brought up another theory. Instead of, or perhaps in addition to, using the movie sets for some controlled demonstration, Tesla may also be collecting vast amounts of data on the streets surrounding the studio for real-world demonstrations. However, this too would go against how Tesla has promoted FSD in that it doesn’t require extensive pre-mapping and testing in order to be able to operate.
