Lot of sci-fi smoke and mirrors: Investors, experts react to Tesla's robotaxi unveil

Oct 11 (Reuters) - Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab on Thursday showcased its long-awaited robotaxi with two gull-wing doors and no steering wheel or pedals, but the glitzy event was light on detail, disappointing investors who had hoped for more concrete plans.

CEO Elon Musk, who has a record of missing projections - and himself said he tended to be optimistic with time frames - did not say how quickly Tesla could ramp up robotaxi production, clear inevitable regulatory hurdles or implement a business plan to leapfrog robotaxi rivals.

Below are comments from investors, stock market analysts and industry experts reacting to the robotaxi unveil:

MATTHEW WANSLEY, PROFESSOR AT NEW YORK'S CARDOZO SCHOOL OF LAW

"What Tesla showed tonight was a lot of sci-fi smoke and mirrors. What they haven't shown yet is software that has the capabilities of an automated driving system ... Musk has yet to prove that a vision-only approach for automation is viable. And he didn't address that issue tonight."

"The big open question about Tesla is just the software is so far behind where the rest of the industry is today."

BRYANT WALKER SMITH, LAW PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

"Tesla yet again claimed it is a year or two away from actual automated driving - just as the company has been claiming for a decade. Indeed, Tesla's whole event had a 2014 vibe, except that in 2014 there were no automated vehicles actually deployed on public roads. Now there are real AVs carrying real people on real roads, but none of them are Teslas. Tonight did not change this reality; it only made the irony more glaring."

KC BOYCE, VICE PRESIDENT AT DATA ANALYTICS AND ADVISORY FIRM ESCALENT

"I had pretty low expectations for the event, given Tesla's history of overpromising and under-delivering. In that sense, it met my expectations: it was a typical Tesla announcement, full of hype and light on details. "

"The vision-only system Tesla has chosen handicaps their capabilities versus how Waymo and Cruise have chosen to approach autonomy. Despite that, Tesla has a potential advantage from its existing fleet and the 'vision' data available from that. Whether that data advantage is enough to close the sensor gap, I'm skeptical."

BRIAN MULBERRY, CLIENT PORTFOLIO MANAGER,  ZACKS INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT 

"When you're light on details the way that he (Musk) was, it's a little bit difficult to see what the measurable impact on earnings will be, at least in the near term."

"We're overall kind of lukewarm on the event because the lack of detail certainly is concerning. The lack of detail for us means we didn't get any more clarity. So in terms of robotaxi revenues positively adding to earnings per share, we're still seeing it's six, seven, eight years away. That's what we take away from this."

HANNAH YEE-FEN LIM, PROFESSOR, NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

"(The two-seater design) is not practical at all. The people who really need some sort of door-to-door service are maybe perhaps the elderly, the young, or those who cannot otherwise catch public transport. Just having that two seats, it's not going to work."

"But really, the two-seater design is probably the least of the problems, because the technology is really not quite there yet. If (Musk) is saying that now there's no radar and no lidar ... I don't think it can sense the surroundings properly, and if you cannot sense the surrounding properly, no AI algorithm is going to help you drive that car safely."

COLIN LANGAN, ANALYST AT WELLS FARGO

"The Cybercab demos were conducted on a movie set in a well-controlled environment, and were very similar to a slow & short amusement park ride. Waymo is now hosting 100K rides per week in major cities, so we expected more from Tesla's demo."

CRIJN BOUMAN, CEO OF EV CHARGING SOLUTIONS FIRM ROCSYS

"The vehicle is one thing, but the other thing is the operation - how to run a profitable business ... The charging, the cleaning - all this stuff needs to be addressed."

"The fundamental thing about the robotaxi is that you want the vehicle to be available almost 24-7. Every time it spends charging, it's not making revenue, so it's not making the vehicle profitable. So you need to have fast charging, and (inductive charging) is typically for a low-power context so it will take hours and hours to charge, so I wonder if they have a fast-charging option."

Hannah Yee-Fen LIM is Associate Professor, College of Business (Nanyang Business School) - Division of Business Law