Tesla has officially launched its pilot robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, marking a significant step in the company’s journey towards fully autonomous driving. The debut that happened this past Sunday, with the service using less than two dozen Tesla vehicles. The program only operates during daylight hours. It needs good weather, too, to keep a bright, controlled space for this cutting-edge technology.
This pilot program comes as Tesla stands at the crossroads of fulfilling great expectations set by its CEO, Elon Musk. In 2015, Musk promised shareholders that Tesla vehicles would have “full autonomy” within three years. By 2017, he claimed that a Tesla electric vehicle would be able to make a cross-country trip without any human intervention by the end of that year. As fun milestones rolled by like clockwork, so did a healthy dose of skepticism about the timelines Musk promised for fully autonomous vehicles.
In 2019, during a call with institutional investors, Musk projected that Tesla would have one million robotaxi-ready vehicles on the road by 2020. He emphasized the economic opportunity these vehicles represent. If each one motivates an owner/operator to drive 100 hours/wk, that’s $9000 monthly income generating. For now, the far-off fantasy of mass robotaxi adoption is still far away.
Tesla’s FSD robotaxi service today still features a human safety supervisor. They often occupy the even safer front passenger seat of every vehicle. This is meant to reduce the dangers from the current shift towards a world of driverless cars. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has their eyes on the situation. A spokesperson from NHTSA stated, “is aware of the referenced incidents and is in contact with the manufacturer to gather additional information.” This indicates heightened scrutiny on Tesla’s autonomous technology amidst reports of unusual driving behavior, such as encounters with “stationary police vehicles outside its driving path.”
Though the pilot robotaxi service is ostensibly open to all members of the public, access is limited to a small number of riders using invitation-only deployment. This limited rollout reflects Tesla’s cautious approach as it tests its technology in real-world scenarios while ensuring safety standards are upheld.