A video that purportedly reveals Tesla’s electrical van prototype is doing the rounds on social media, with the uploader claiming that it reveals a brand new Tesla people-mover designed for The Boring Firm.
If the automobile within the video uploaded on Twitter by Las Vegas-based content material creator Jacob Orth (by way of Electrek) is certainly a Tesla prototype – it does characteristic the corporate emblem on the steering wheel – it seems to be in a really early improvement stage. It options a big glazed space and it seems like an autonomous shuttle bus.
The automobile has a complete of 12 seats, together with one for the driving force. It is arduous to identify if it has any wheels mounted underneath the flat ground. Orth describes the automobile as a “secret Tesla van prototype designed for Elon Musk’s Vegas Loop.”
To some extent, the van-like passenger automobile does resemble an idea unveiled by The Boring Firm in 2017 as a preview for a 12-passenger automobile designed for its Las Vegas Loop system.
Whether or not that is the true deal or not, it should be mentioned {that a} Tesla electrical van, minibus, or robotaxi has been talked about for the primary time by the EV maker again in 2016, within the Tesla Grasp Plan Half 2.
On the time, CEO Elon Musk talked about two new segments Tesla was seeking to electrify: heavy-duty vehicles and “excessive passenger-density city transport.”
Whereas the previous materialized in December 2022 within the type of the Tesla Semi, the latter continues to be within the works (presumably). Elon Musk has additionally talked about Tesla planning to make an electrical minibus primarily based on the Mannequin X earlier than, however that venture did not turn out to be a actuality.
Then there have been talks about Tesla making a van-like passenger automobile for Musk’s The Boring Firm. The tunnel at present makes use of Tesla Mannequin Y and Mannequin X autos, however the firm has mentioned up to now that it might construct a 12-passenger automobile for the LVCC Loop. Lately, there have been rumors that Tesla has been constructing a prototype for The Boring Firm.
Is it the automobile within the video? We won’t verify its authenticity since Tesla doesn’t have a PR division, but when that is the true deal, we anticipate to see extra of it within the coming weeks and months.
In spite of everything, if a content material creator had this degree of entry into what we assume is a facility with extremely restricted entry, it in all probability means he had the corporate’s blessing to shoot and distribute the video.