- 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.