Shares of Tesla Inc. dropped more than 8% in trading today following a product event where it debuted two new autonomous vehicles.

The company’s “We, Robot” event in Los Angeles saw Chief Executive Elon Musk introduce an autonomous taxi called the Cybercab. He also previewed an autonomous bus, the Robovan, along with the latest iteration of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot. 

The Cybercab is an electric two-seat vehicle with a design reminiscent of Tesla’s Cybertruck. It features gull-wing doors that open upwards, as well as a wireless charging system that makes it possible to top up the batteries without plugging in a power cable. Also notable is what the Cybercab doesn’t include: a steering wheel and pedals. 

During the product reveal, Musk said that Tesla plans to start producing the vehicle by 2027. The company hopes to sell the vehicle for under $30,000. Musk added that the cost of operating the Cybercab is expected to hover around 20 cents per mile.

The drop in Tesla’s stock price today reflected investor qualms about the vehicle. Speaking to CNBC, one fund manager expressed the view that the company should have designed the Cybercab with five seats instead of two. Others pointed to the lack of technical details in Musk’s presentation as a source of concern.

Another possible factor behind the cool investor reaction to the Cybercab is Tesla’s 2026 production target. Some market observers stated this time frame will leave the company unable to generate revenue from the vehicle for at least several years. That would make Tesla more reliant on its existing car models, which could hurt sales growth.

Moreover, it’s not certain whether the company will succeed in bringing the Cybercab to production by Musk’s deadline. In 2019, the executive forecast that Tesla would have 1 million autonomous taxis on the road by 2020. He made several similar predictions in subsequent years, but the company’s fully autonomous driving technology remains under development to this day. 

Tesla’s product development roadmap is not limited to the Cybercab. During this week’s event, Musk also previewed a second, significantly larger autonomous vehicle called the Robovan. It can function either as a bus with 20 seats or carry cargo. Musk said the Robovan will be optimized to operate in dense urban areas, but didn’t share key details such as when it’s expected to enter production.

Alongside several prototype versions of the upcoming vehicles, attendees of the product event were greeted by several Optimus humanoid robots. Several of the Tesla-designed robots were shown to interact directly with audience members. However, it’s unclear whether they did so autonomously or with the help of a human operator. 

Musk said that Tesla hopes to sell the robots to consumers for between $20,000 and $30,000 apiece. If Tesla succeeds in developing a competitively priced consumer robot, it may also seek to develop an enterprise version for facilities such as logistics warehouses. Several venture-backed startups are already working on such systems.

Image: Tesla