Tesla CEO Elon Musk surprised attendees of the “We, Robot” event by presenting a new, unexpected vehicle: a passenger van.
Of course, it was far from a conventional van. The Tesla Robovan (Musk pronounces it ruh-BO-vehn) looked like something out of an Art Deco fever dream, with a sleek train-engine like shape and no visible wheels. Musk said that the vehicle could carry up to 20 people, or be used to transport goods.
“The Robovan is what’s gonna solve for high density,” he said. “So if you want to take a sports team somewhere, or you’re looking to really get the cost of travel down to, I don’t know, 5-10, cents a mile, then you can use the robovan.”
The Robovan is intended for the company’s Tesla Network, an autonomous ridehailing…