Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Tesla’s traditional do-it-yourself instinct could be tested by its nationwide robotaxi ambitions.
The big picture: Manufacturing self-driving taxis is one thing. Financing, parking, charging, cleaning and maintaining enough of them to blanket the country is another — and Tesla is signaling that it might want entrepreneurs to help shoulder the load.
Driving the news: Alongside last week’s driverless Cybercab launch, Tesla began soliciting interest from people who want a piece of the action.
“Help us build our Robotaxi network,” says a newly posted page on Tesla’s website.
Prospective partners interested in “Cybercab fleet vehicle purchasing” as well as “mobility hubs and infrastructure” are invited to fill out a form.
Tesla hasn’t disclosed anything about the economics of such an arrangement, including how much a Cybercab costs.
Zoom out: One possible model comes from Amazon, whose Delivery Service Partner program relies on more than 4,000 independent businesses to perform the expensive, labor-intensive work of delivering its packages.
Amazon provides the customers, technology, logistics network and other support, while local entrepreneurs operate fleets of Amazon-branded vans and hire the drivers.
That arrangement helped Amazon build a gigantic delivery network without having to employ every driver and own every vehicle.
Tesla could use Cybercab entrepreneurs in much the same way.
Tesla could build the cars, provide the autonomous driving technology and manage the Robotaxi app that would match passengers with vehicles.
Independent fleet owners could bring capital to buy the cars — and assume the financial risk of keeping them busy and profitable.
A structure along those lines could potentially help Tesla shift billions of dollars in vehicles and infrastructure off its own balance sheet while preserving control of the network.
Between the lines: It would be a big departure, however, for Tesla, which has historically embraced vertical integration — from vehicle manufacturing to battery production to its Supercharger network.
Follow the money: The Amazon experience also illustrates the risk for entrepreneurs whose businesses depend heavily on one powerful platform.
One group of Amazon Delivery Service Partners recently organized to seek better financial terms; Amazon says the vast majority of its partners run successful, profitable businesses.
At Tesla, the risk is that an entrepreneur might invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in Cybercabs or infrastructure only to discover that Tesla can alter the economics — or expand its own competing fleet — virtually overnight.
Reality check: Even if Tesla were to adopt some kind of franchising model for Cybercab, it’s not yet ready to scale fully autonomous AVs.
So far, it has only a modest fleet in Austin, Texas, with just 45 Cybercabs authorized for driverless operation statewide.
While Tesla says its factory can build up to 125,000 a year, its second-quarter letter to shareholders noted that batteries are “the main limiting factor to near-term vehicle production volume increase.”
There’s also a regulatory hurdle. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into Tesla’s self-certification that the Cybercab — which lacks a steering wheel and pedals — complies with federal vehicle safety standards.
What we’re watching: Whether Tesla fills in the missing pieces of its entrepreneur pitch — particularly the Cybercab’s price and how revenue would be divided between Tesla and fleet owners.
The bottom line: If Tesla’s ultimate objective is to operate a massive ride-hailing network, the fastest way could be to get thousands of other businesses to help pay for it.
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