Tesla has officially launched its fully driverless robotaxis on public roads, marking a significant milestone in the company’s ambitious plans for autonomous vehicle technology. On Sunday, the first ever trial got started in Austin, Texas. That was the first opportunity for the public to view the vehicles being tested in action. Musk’s vision of a future where we all zip around in autonomous driving ubers would become reality on the rollout of this simple change.
Elon Musk has never made any secret about how critical he sees the implementation of robotaxis as being to Tesla’s future. He expressed his enthusiasm for the project in a post on X, stating that the launch represents “the culmination of a decade of hard work.”
TESLA’S ADVANTAGE
Tesla has already been able to accumulate millions of additional real world fully driverless miles in international markets such as China, United Arab Emirates and Singapore. Now, they are poised to deploy these advanced vehicles.
Despite Musk’s optimism, the launch has raised some eyebrows – including those of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). We’ve reached out to Tesla about the alarming reports and videos spreading across social media. In these videos, the robotaxis zip around traffic and run red lights. The most egregious example was when a robotaxi decided to stop in the middle of a street every time it came within view of a parked police car.
The NHTSA stated that it is “aware of the referenced incidents and is in contact with the manufacturer to gather additional information.” This driverless car experiment will assess whether fully autonomous vehicles are safer than human drivers. This is a big deal, not just for the future of autonomous vehicle tech, but as precedent for regulating emerging technologies.
While the launch, muted by its historic importance, was a departure from the past, members of the Tesla development teams showered with praise from Musk for their efforts. He marked the clear success of the project by publicly congratulating the artificial intelligence team responsible. He thanked the chip design team for their key contributions.
As Tesla ventures into this new territory with its robotaxis, the company faces regulatory scrutiny that may impact its operations moving forward. The NHTSA’s probe and possible resulting order would be a huge sea change. Its result will help to determine whether and how autonomous vehicles are embraced and regulated within the United States.