Five of Elon Musk’s late and unfulfilled Tesla promises

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a long history of making ambitious promises and often delivering late. Many of his biggest ideas continue to be in the works.

Musk has described himself as pathologically optimistic, saying he does deliver in the end, "which is the important thing".

Here are some of Musk's promises that were completed late, and others that are pending:

Full self-driving technology

Musk's most famous unfulfilled promise is Tesla's effort to create self-driving software. He initially spoke about full self-driving (FSD) capabilities in 2015, saying autonomous cars would be available within three years.

He missed that deadline and has promised almost every year since 2020 that Tesla's vehicles would achieve full self-driving capabilities. In 2023, Musk called himself the "boy who cried FSD", an admission of his missed targets.

Tesla has said it would release an "unsupervised" version of FSD, which presumably would not require human oversight, in California this year, without offering more information.

Affordable model delayed

Musk first announced plans for a mass market, roughly $25,000 (R464,000) car in 2020 but offered no specifics about the vehicle at the time. Reuters exclusively reported last year that Tesla scrapped its plans for the low cost car sometimes described as the Model 2.

Tesla subsequently said it would create affordable cars that would be built on product lines, rather than the new vehicle previously envisioned. Musk said in April 2024 Tesla would introduce the "new models" by early 2025.

The company has said the more affordable models would start production in the first half of 2025, though Reuters reported exclusively last week that plans for an affordable Tesla, which include a stripped-down version of its best-selling Model Y SUV made in the US, would be delayed by months.

Cybercab rollout

Musk said in 2019 he was "very confident" Tesla would have operational robotaxis by 2020. In October 2024, he announced plans for a self-driving robotaxi, called a Cybercab, to go into production from 2026.

Cybercab production could be disrupted, Reuters reported, because Tesla has paused component imports from China after tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump jumped to 145%.

Cybertruck

Musk introduced its Cybertruck pickup truck in 2019 and planned to start manufacturing around late 2021. Production started in 2023.

Next generation Roadster sports car

The company in late 2017 announced a new version of its Roadster would launch in 2020. In 2021, Musk pushed the launch of the Roadster to 2023, citing global supply chain bottlenecks. In 2023, he said Tesla hopes to start production of its long-delayed Roadster the next year.

Musk announced last year Tesla would aim to ship its long-delayed next generation Roadster in 2025.