TESLA will no longer make cars by 2030: Tesla's car-free future and 10 little things that automotive journalists don't understand

TESLA will no longer make cars by 2030! If that sounds far-fetched, think about it: Musk is hinting with every move that Tesla actually not at all car company. It's a technology company – some would say an artificial intelligence company. When Tesla once equipped its Model S with a large touchscreen, we joked that it was a “computer on wheels.” We weren't wrong – today Elon Musk claims that Tesla isn't actually an electric vehicle manufacturer at all, but rather AI company, with a vision that goes beyond cars. Just as Apple took over your pocket and then the world with the phone, Musk is aiming much higher – literally for the stars.

Tesla is not just a car company, it's a technological visionary

TESLA will no longer make cars by 2030

From the beginning, Tesla did not build its identity as a classic car manufacturer. Tesla are known for developing most innovations in-house and to learn more about software than about metal and valves. Elon Musk and his team took a Silicon Valley approach a decade ago: they see the car as a platform for software and data, not just a means of transportation. All Tesla cars are, so to speak, servers on wheels, equipped with a wealth of sensors and computers. Since 2016, every Tesla has left the factory with built-in hardware for self-driving functionality—eight cameras, radar, ultrasonic sensors, and a powerful computer. Whether you’ve purchased the optional “Full Self-Driving” package or not, your Model 3 or Model Y has the “eyes and brains” for autonomous driving already built in. That’s no coincidence: Musk knew back then that cameras and chips were more important than leather and chrome on the bumper.

Elon Musk, namely since 2013 promises cars that will be able to drive themselves completely. His predictions about autonomous driving have become a regular feature of the past decade (often overly optimistic, skeptics would add). But the key is that Musk and Tesla they insist in this vision. Every new over-the-air update package, every chipset upgrade, serves the same goal: to teach the car to drive better than a human. Musk has even said publicly that Anyone who doesn't believe in Tesla's success in autonomy should not buy the company's shares.For Tesla, Autopilot is not just a driver aid; it is the core of the company's future.

Autonomy and artificial intelligence: Tesla's real product

TESLA will no longer make cars by 2030

When a typical automotive journalist writes about Tesla, they are interested in range, 0-100 km/h acceleration and perhaps build quality. But Musk's statements show that Tesla's main product is actually artificial intelligence – both the one that powers Autopilot and beyond. Tesla is currently building a huge team under Musk’s leadership to develop AI and supercomputers (the famous Dojo), which train networks based on petabytes of video footage collected from Tesla cameras. Musk brags unabashedly that Tesla could soon become the most valuable AI company in the world. Many people shook their heads in disbelief at this, but let's look at the facts:

• The largest fleet of “robots” in the world: More than two million Tesla cars on the world's roads collect data every day. Every intersection, every driver error, every sharp turn - everything is recorded and sent to Tesla's "brain" in the cloud. This is a treasure trove of real-world data that no Google or traditional car giant can match. Musk claims that this is precisely a real data treasure trove what will launch Tesla to the top of the AI world. To be cynical: instead of working on new car models, Tesla is teaching its algorithms to drive.
• A software company on four wheels: Tesla has also “borrowed” a business model from Silicon Valley. It doesn’t just make money with hardware (cars), but increasingly with software. Every Tesla owner knows that Musk likes to sell them software features – like Autopilot – separately. But in the future, you may not even need to own a Tesla car to use Tesla technology. Musk is offered to competitors in the automotive industry, that they can license Tesla's Autopilot or the entire FSD (Full Self-Driving) system for their cars. "We're happy to license it to others," Musk said, “We don't want to keep this to ourselves”This is not exactly the kind of statement made by a typical car company CEO – imagine Toyota selling its hybrids to others or Volkswagen offering TDI technology to competitors! But Tesla is doing exactly that: becomes a technology supplier (Incidentally, there are rumors in the industry that they had already talked to Ford about buying Tesla's FSD - which was even confirmed by Ford boss Jim Farley - but Ford then preferred to bet on its favorite, Waymo).
• Grok: Tesla's AI assistant: It's no coincidence that Musk also launched xAI – a new artificial intelligence company that introduced a language model Grok. This one chatbot, Musk's alternative to ChatGPT, initially garnered fame (and some outrage) on the X network, but now it's making its way straight into Tesla cars. Yes, you read that right: starting in the summer of 2025, some owners will be able to activate the voice assistant in their cars. Grok and talk to it like you have Siri on steroids in your dashboard. Grok can explain, answer general questions, tell stories, or simply chatter, while the car drives (hopefully, soon on its own). This is more than just a navigation update – it’s a prelude to a car that will intelligent interlocutorWhat's more, Musk's AI achievements even extend to the Pentagon: the US Department of Defense recently announced that it will use Musk's Grok for its own needs. What automaker can say that it is driving the development of artificial intelligence For the military? Toyota? Not exactly.

In short, Tesla is devoting so much energy and talent to development smart algorithmsthat one asks: Is the car still in the spotlight or has it become just a means? The answer is becoming obvious.

Robots instead of new car models

One theory circulating among attentive analysts is downright heretical: Tesla will gradually abandon its classic car program. Instead of designing a whole range of new models (as traditional brands do every few years), Tesla is reportedly focusing its engineers and production capacity elsewhere – into manufacturing. robots. Does it sound like science fiction? Let's see what Musk himself says. On Tesla Artificial Intelligence Day In 2022, he brought a robotic humanoid named Optimus to the stage and confidently said that the robot would one day be a more important product for Tesla than cars. This year, he went even further: at the June 2024 shareholder meeting, Musk announced that “Most of Tesla's long-term value belonged to the Optimus robot”This is a statement that has made many an automotive journalist's pants shake - what comes next? Is Tesla stopping making cars?!

Musk didn't just throw billions into developing a humanoid robot in three days. Optimus (a more than two-meter-tall robotic assistant with arms and legs) is serious. Tesla plans thousands of such robots in its factories and warehouses around the world, and perhaps soon in other companies as well. Optimus is supposed to do boring, repetitive or dangerous jobs for humans. Musk claims that in a few years this robot will be able to walk down the street, lift boxes, maybe even make coffee - in short, it will be versatile. Now the key thought: if Tesla masters production and learning such robots, Why limit yourself to just making cars? Cars are just one segment of human life (mobility), while humanoid robots have potential applications in every industry. From healthcare to construction, you can imagine Tesla's "Optimus Prime" working tirelessly 24 hours a day.

No need to guess – Musk said it straight. His prediction is that the market for humanoid robots in the future will be more enormous from the car market. He even estimates that Optimus could one day be worth tens of trillions (thousands of billions) of dollars in revenue. Those are unimaginable numbers, but remember that even predictions of the biggest market value for a car company once seemed crazy—until Tesla surpassed them all. If that's even remotely true, then Tesla might be more of a robotics tech company in five or ten years than not. Cars? Ah, what we see on the roads today could be financial (and test) products only – a tool for financing and developing something much bigger.

Let's look at another indicator of this direction: robotaxi. Musk has been promising for years that Tesla cars will become autonomous taxis that make money for you when you're not using them. Many people laughed at these tales, but in June 2025 it happened - in Austin, Texas, Tesla launched a pilot fleet of vehicles that transported customers for the first time without a driver behind the wheelFor now, there are about ten Model Y vehicles, limited to a narrow area of the city, and the ride costs a symbolic $4.20 (of course, Musk can't help but joke). But the point is clear: Tesla has officially entered the autonomous taxi business, directly competing with Waymo and Cruise, which have done it before. Musk called the achievement “the culmination of a decade of hard work” – as if to say: it was goal from the beginning. Why does this matter? Because robotaxi has a completely different business dynamic than selling passenger cars. If robotaxi really takes off globally tomorrow, Tesla doesn't need to build 20 million cars a year (a goal they've quietly abandoned). Instead, it just needs enough vehicles to cruise around cities and make money by transporting passengers. Fewer cars, more profit – a dream scenario for any investor. Let’s not forget, Musk’s analysts have long argued that Tesla’s value is so high precisely because of the expectation of future robotaxis and robots. In fact Analysts estimate that much of Tesla's market value today is based on its promise of autonomous taxis and robots., but not on current sales of Models 3 or Y.

And what does this mean for classic new car models? Tesla has been a rather unusual company in recent years: while competitors are constantly introducing new SUVs, crossovers and electric hatchbacks, Tesla's model lineup has been practically unchanged since 2019 (when the Model Y was released). There are no new models (except for the futuristic Cybertruck) in sight. Musk has said that Tesla doesn't need a new model right now - it's instead optimizing production and lowering prices for existing models, while it's also working on a completely new type of product. Why bother with a new "Model 2" for the masses when they can turn existing cars into autonomous taxis and sell the technology inside them to others?

It therefore seems entirely possible that Tesla will not be introducing any new classic cars in the near future. Instead, it will expand its business elsewhere: in B2B services and partnerships. Sales technological solutions to other manufacturers (e.g. FSD licensing, integration of Grok as an assistant in their cars), it will offer complete ecosystems (charging infrastructure is already becoming an industry standard, being bought by Ford, GM, Mercedes, etc.) and of course – a robotaxi service directly to consumers. So Tesla may soon be earned more than other campers and carriers than from us individuals. And its cars on the road will increasingly be exploited as fleets of robots, not as cherished proprietary machines.

Cars were just tools – the goal is Mars

When Elon Musk looks at the Tesla Model S, he doesn't just see a sports sedan. He sees toolMusk has been repeating his ultimate vision: humanity must become multiplanetary speciesAnd to do that, it requires a whole range of new technologies. Tesla was founded with the aim of accelerating sustainable energy on Earth (which is commendable in itself), but the underlying thought was always that everything we learn here could be used on Mars one day. Elon Musk is not exactly an automotive romantic; he is not interested in the sound of a V8 engine or the smell of gasoline. His heart's desire is SpaceX – rockets to fly to Mars. And once you get there, you need… what? Vehicles to drive on the red sand. You need electricity, because there’s no gasoline there. You need the internet to communicate with Earth. You need robots to build bases and machines to dig underground dwellings. If we add up slowly, we find that Musk already has all the elements of this futuristic Lego set:

• SpaceX – rockets Starship, which can bring people and equipment (and maybe a whole bunch of robots) there.
• Tesla cars and batteries – robust electric vehicles (e.g. Cybertruck stainless steel) and powerful batteries and solar panels. The Cybertruck looks like an armored space vehicle for a reason – comes in handy on MarsMusk likes to joke (or not) that he was Cybertruck designed more for Mars than Earth. Paintless, rust-proof, dust-proof, electrically powered (Mars has plenty of sun, no oil), and rugged enough to survive Martian conditions. This vehicle could be launched from a SpaceX rocket straight onto the Martian surface and begin exploring.
• Starlink – a constellation of thousands of satellites that already provide Internet to Earth in places where there was none before. Guess who will provide Internet connectivity on Mars? Musk has an answer ready in the form of Starlink satellites, which can create a communication line between the two planets.
• The Boring Company – this is Musk’s tunneling company. Officially, it builds underground tunnels for city-to-city hyper-connectivity (and parking garages in Vegas), but many suspect the real value lies in the rapid tunneling technology that will invaluable on MarsBecause of the radiation and temperatures, it will make sense to build underground dwellings there – and Musk Boring Company will be able to dig shelters faster than any NASA rover. Musk, of course, denies this with a wry smile, but the fact is that his drilling rigs are improving every year.
• Optimus humanoid robots – instead of sending ten thousand people to Mars (which is expensive, risky, and ethically questionable), we can send ten thousand Optimus robots. ARK Invest Analysts have already imagined a scenario: Each SpaceX rocket that flies to Mars will carry a mix of cargo: a few human pioneers and a whole legion of robots. Once they land, the robots will get to work – building habitats, installing solar panels, digging in ice for water, even planting the first plants in the domes. Humans will come later, when the infrastructure is ready. Musk only smiles mysteriously at these visions, but says nothing – perhaps because he knows they sound like ZF… until the day they actually happen.
• xAI and Grok – in the long term, the team of people on Mars will be small, but the challenges will be great. Artificial intelligence will be an irreplaceable advisor and assistant here. Musk is building his own AI systems that will “told it like it is” (according to him, Grok was maximally honest and unforgiving AI). Perhaps AI will help find solutions to unexpected problems far from home.

When we put all this together, we get a picture that goes beyond the automotive business. Tesla wasn't created because Musk loved cars, but because he needed them as a piece of a larger puzzle. Cars were the vehicle for a revolution in energy and transportation – both on Earth (with cleaner transportation) and once on Mars (as an essential means of transportation).

So in retrospect, it makes sense that Musk not impressed with the expansion of the car model range like a typical CEO of a car brand. Instead, we see him more excited about challenges like improving computer vision, training neural networks, building robots with artificial muscles and of course the launch of a new generation of missiles. Cars are cool, but – let’s be honest – Musk wants to solve bigger problems. When he one day stands on the surface of Mars (no doubt wearing a Tesla spacesuit, fashionably coordinated with the SpaceX rocket in the background), he will be followed by a fleet of technologies he has developed through his companies. And Tesla will be among them, but probably not in the form of the latest convertible, but in the form of some autonomous rover or smart energy grid.

Conclusion: Automotive journalists, look up to the sky

TESLA will no longer make cars by 2030

So why? automotive journalists sometimes they don't understand Tesla? Maybe because they look too narrowly – they're looking for the next a carThey wonder when the Model 3 will arrive with a refreshed design, or when Tesla will launch a wagon or city car to compete with the VW Golf. They criticize the gaps between the panels on the Model Y and mock Musk's delay in delivering the Cybertruck. But they don't see the bigger picture: Tesla plays a different game.

Instead of drawing a new body style every year, Tesla prefers to write new code. Instead of hiring famous car designers, they hire top machine learning experts. The result? Maybe in five years Tesla will be known as the company that sold the “brains” for its autonomous cars to the auto industry. Or as the company that operates the largest fleet of robotaxis in the world and collects commissions from every ride. Or as the company that makes humanoid robots for every possible industry. Most likely all three.

Of course, this doesn't mean that Tesla cars will disappear overnight. Model S, 3, X, Y and Cybertruck will be on the road for many years to come – but their role will be transformed. With each update, they will become more autonomous and more integrated into the wider ecosystem of services. Car ownership may no longer be the point; what matters is what this car knows and how it connects to other systems. In Tesla's vision, we may one day called the robot the way we call a taxi todayOr will it be ours? personal Optimus He suggested that we get dressed because a car that had arrived by itself was already waiting for us in front of the building.

For fans of gasoline fumes and classics, all this may be blasphemous. But Musk is betting that the future is different from what we've been used to for the last 100 years of motoring. And considering how many times it's already pushed the boundaries of what's possible, it would be foolish to bet against it.

So, dear automotive journalists and skeptics: the next time you wonder why Tesla doesn't introduce a new model or why Elon prefers to talk about neural networks instead of horsepower and kilowatts, look upYou might see a bright dot in the evening sky – that's Musk's star, literally and figuratively. The Tesla of the future might indeed be it will not (only) make cars, but something much bigger. And those who understand this are already driving around in a car that is learning to drive itself, while they dream of robots and stars. The rest will be stunned to find in a few years that the roads are flooded with driverless taxis and robots in factories - and that behind it all is an "automotive" company that realized in time that it was never just about cars.