Tesla Robotaxi designer sees the end of the driving license in a generation

The driverless, pedal-less Robotaxi without steering wheel that he dreamed of crafting for a decade will end the whole driving license concept, says Tesla's chief designer Franz von Holzhausen.

He is of the opinion that his own children won't need to go through pesky driving tests, or worry about any permits, as cars will drive themselves.

Franz was the person who gently nudged Elon Musk to pick the more orthodox of the two mass market cars Tesla intends to build on its so-called "next-gen vehicle" platform for affordable electric mobility. "If we go down a path of having no steering wheel, and FSD is not ready, we won't be able to put them on the road," he reportedly told Musk.

Elon was at first very reluctant to release a run-of-the-mill Model 2 that is simply a smaller Model Y with pedals and steering wheel, before the futuristic autonomous Robotaxi that Tesla is just about to unveil.

Let me be clear. This vehicle must be designed as a clean robotaxi. We're going to take that risk. It's my fault if it f--ks up. But we are not going to design some sort of amphibian frog that's a halfway car. We are all in on autonomy.

Franz, however, managed to craft a Model 2 that is just as futuristic, and Elon eventually reneged, but during last year's EV sales slump he abruptly decided to stick with the original plan and announce the Robotaxi.

It is quite the risk, as Tesla doesn't even have the regulatory permits for a fully autonomous vehicle, but apparently investors expect nothing less from Elon Musk as they have bid up Tesla's stock price on the run-up to today's Robotaxi event.

The autonomous car will reportedly be a two-seater with butterfly wing doors, just as in the leaked prototypes, and will serve to augment the fleet of a CyberCab ride-share platform that Tesla would provide to all of its self-driving vehicles for a fee.

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