Last night, a blurry photo emerged of a heavily camouflaged vehicle driving around the Warner Bros. film studio lot, sparking speculation that it was the fabled Tesla robotaxi set to be unveiled next month.
With its canary yellow exterior and clearly tampered shape, it's difficult to glean much about the robotaxi from this sighting. Everything about this photo should be taken with a grain of salt, including the tires, boxy rear, odd roof bump (lidar?), and the confusing indentations in the hood. All is not as it seems.
Accordingly ElectrekThe photo was first posted on Reddit by u/boopitysmopp, who is said to be a lot employee at Warner Bros. (The post has since been removed and the Reddit user deleted their profile, so the employment claim could not be immediately verified.) Another Tesla vehicle can be seen following behind in the photo.
Last month, Bloomberg reported that Tesla plans to unveil its robotaxis at the 110-acre site, which features more than two dozen sound stages, including replica suburbs.
The yellow camouflage wrap is certainly a nice touch, especially if Tesla continues to use the “Cybercab” moniker that Elon Musk first mentioned in a recent earnings call. After all, nothing says “taxi” like an obtrusive shade of yellow.
The overall size of the vehicle seems small, but may be on par with a Tesla Model 3. And the original Reddit post noted that the rear features a full-length taillight that appears to be modeled after the Cybertruck.
Other important questions, such as whether the vehicle will have traditional controls like a steering wheel and pedals, cannot be immediately answered from this one photo. Hopefully more spy photos will surface soon so we can get a better idea of what Musk and company are planning.