An idiosyncratic billionaire takes to the stage (with, perhaps, a humanoid robot by his side?) to unveil a futuristic technology that he promises will transform the world — a vision alternately celebrated, mocked and feared. It’s a scene straight out of Hollywood. And that’s exactly where it’s going to happen tonight — on a Warner Brothers studio in Burbank, California. Tesla is calling the event “We, Robot.” At 7 p.m. Pacific time, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is expected to unveil the company’s design for a dedicated robotaxi, a Tesla designed exclusively to ferry passengers without a driver — a feat the company’s semi-autonomous software has not yet demonstrated it can do. “The future will be streamed live,” the company posted on X, the social media platform Musk owns. Here are 5 things to know about Tesla’s big bet on autonomous driving. Tesla makes money selling electric vehicles — in fact, its profit margins on its cars, which are consistently in the double digits, are enviable for an automaker. But Musk has his eye on the much fatter profit margins of the software industry. In addition to selling cars, Tesla sells an expensive software package called “Full Self Driving (Supervised).” It can autonomously direct a Tesla on a wide range of roads, and navigate stoplights, stop signs and pedestrians without human input … most of the time. But it periodically requires a human to take over, which means it’s not truly autonomous. Musk has always maintained that demand for the software will be much higher when it is fully autonomous — in part because that would allow people to make money off their personal vehicles by lending them out, like a driverless Uber or Lyft.

Full story :Tesla is expected to unveil a robotaxi tonight at the We, Robot event in California.