Elon Musk might have to convince Trump not to 'stop' autonomous vehicles if he's reelected

• Elon Musk revealed Tesla's new robotaxis hours after Trump said he would "stop" AVs from operating.
• Trump expressed concerns about autonomous vehicles at the Detroit Economic Club.
• Waymo, GM's Cruise, and Zoox are also advancing autonomous vehicle technology.

Elon Musk has become one of Donald Trump's biggest supporters , but he might have to convince the former president not to kill a major part of Tesla's future.

During his remarks at the Detroit Economic Club , Trump said he found autonomous vehicles "concerning" and promised to "stop" them from operating.

"I will stop Chinese — and other countries — produced automobile and autonomous vehicles," he said. "Do you like autonomous? Does anybody like an autonomous vehicle?"

Just hours later, Musk revealed Tesla's highly anticipated robotaxis . Musk showed off the company's upcoming driverless taxis, also known as Cybercab, along with the Robovan, a large shuttle van that he said could hold up to 20 people.

The Tesla CEO also announced that the Model 3 and the Model Y were expected to have full self-driving capabilities in California and Texas by next year.

Alphabet-owned Waymo is currently offering fully autonomous rides in San Francisco and Phoenix, with plans to add Los Angeles and Austin soon. Amazon-backed Zoox received authorization from the California and Nevada DMV to operate fully autonomous robotaxis on public roads. Zoox also offers full-time employees rides in the company's AVs between its Foster City offices.

GM's Cruise is also planning a cautious return to the streets with supervised autonomous driving in Phoenix and Dallas after suspending driverless operations in 2023 after one of its autonomous taxis ran over a woman .

China was quietly doing its own testing in California in recent years. Five Chinese-based companies, including WeRide and ride-hailing provider Didi, reportedly conducted around 130,000 miles of AV testing between December 2022 and November 2023.