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The big picture: Tesla boss Elon Musk has long promised that autonomous vehicle owners could one day lend their cars to the company's Robotaxi fleet to earn passive income. However, Tesla's timeline has remained vague until now. Although the company is making real progress on its self-driving ambitions, its recent projection may just be the latest in Musk's long string of overconfident predictions.

During Tesla's third-quarter earnings call on October 21, VP for Autonomous Driving Ashok Elluswamy announced the company's aim to let some Model Y owners add their vehicles to Robotaxi's autonomous fleet around the second quarter of 2027. The feature, which would enable users to earn money from ride-hailing, has long been one of CEO Elon Musk's core promises.

Several years have passed since Musk first stated that Tesla owners could one day program their autonomous vehicles to search for fares when not in use.…