Tesla presents Cybercab and self-driving bus at Hollywood event

The boss of US electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, Elon Musk, unveiled its long-promised Cybercab in California on Friday.

The self-driving taxi - also known as a robotaxi - has two upward-opening doors and looks like a coupé based on Tesla's best-selling Model 3.

Tesla expects to start production of the vehicles in 2026, said Musk, though he added he tends to be too optimistic when it comes to schedules.

The Cybercab will also be available to buy and is set to cost less than $30,000.

Initially, software for autonomous driving, which does not require people to take action, is to hit the roads in the US states of Texas and California next year in the current Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.

Musk himself was driven to the stage at the event, staged at Hollywood studio Warner Brothers in Los Angeles, by one of the Cybercabs - which does not have a steering wheel.

As it was held on private property, Tesla did not need permission from the transport authorities for the vehicle to appear at the event.

Musk also showed off a futuristic self-driving minibus, the Robovan, which can hold up to 20 people.

The event started almost an hour late, and Musk spoke of a medical emergency among attendees. The audience was mainly made up of analysts and Tesla influencers, who praised the electric car company and its founder online.

Ever since 2016, Musk has been saying Tesla is going to achieve a breakthrough in autonomous driving. He also years ago vowed that all Tesla owners would be able to send their cars out on a robotaxi platform to earn money on their own.

Tesla has also been letting car buyers pay in advance for the ability to drive autonomously for a long time.

In reality, Tesla's autopilot, even in the advanced version with the full self-driving add-on, remains a driver assistance system with humans at the wheel who always bear the ultimate responsibility and must be ready to take control at any time.

But there are actual robotaxis on the roads, particularly from Google's sister company Waymo. The vehicles make more than 100,000 journeys with passengers in four US cities every week, without a human driver.

In San Francisco in particular, Waymo's Jaguar electric vehicles converted into self-driving cars make regular appearances on the city's roads. Robotaxi developers such as tech group Baidu are also making rapid progress in China.

In contrast to Waymo and other robotaxi developers, Musk says self-driving cars can be created only using cameras without the need for more expensive laser radar, though industry observers doubt whether such vehicles can gather sufficient information about road traffic.