Tesla’s robovan is the surprise of the night

Tesla CEO Elon Musk surprised attendees of the “We, Robot” event by presenting a new, unexpected vehicle: a passenger van.

The robovan is intended to for the company’s Tesla Network, an autonomous ridehailing service for purpose-built self-driving cars, as well as Tesla customers’ personally owned vehicles.

Tesla has dropped hints about a van before. In its Master Plan Part Deux, the company said it was developing “high passenger-density urban transport” and also suggested that autonomous buses could be deployed. And earlier this year, Musk showed an image of a cloaked van-shaped vehicle as part of the company’s annual shareholder meeting.