“We had lots of modeling that showed the payback around FSD [Full Self Driving] and Robotaxi was going to be slow. It was going to be choppy.”
Tesla’s own analysts modeled robotaxis using Musk’s assumptions and found they would lose money for years. Senior executives pushed for a $25,000 car instead. Musk dismissed the analysis and killed the cheap car for Cybercab. The numbers he did not like stayed internal.