A Tesla is launching its former on the streets of Austin after almost a decade of expectations created by Elon MuskBeginning a new and delicate was for the automaker. The launch of the taxi service this Sunday started modestly, with only a few vehicles in limited areas of the city.
Tesla selected the first passengers, who should provide feedback on the experience. Therefore, the general public will still have to wait.
Although discreet, the launch has been highly awaited by investors, who bet on this new line of business to revive the company, shaken by sales in sales and negative consumers reaction against Musk.
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Tesla’s CEO is betting on the future of the company in autonomous driving, artificial intelligence and humanoid robots – exciting but not yet proven areas. “This is the first true test,” said Gene Munster, managing partner of Deepwater Asset Management, in an interview. “Anything that happens will be amplified, especially the negative. There is a lot at stake.”
Tesla has recently intensified tests in the Texas capital, where Model Y SUVs with manufacturer plates have been frequently seen in the southern and southeastern regions of the city. Musk recently released on social networks a video of one of the vehicles circulating in Austin without anyone behind the wheel.
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Some details about the launch has surfaced in recent days, after social networking users – known for promoting Tesla – revealing that they have been selected to have advanced access to a new robotaxi app and application transportation service.
According to the parameters of use published by one of these accounts, robotaxis will be available between 6 am and a half night, every day, within the city’s delimited geographical areas (which do not include the airport).
The service may be limited or unavailable under adverse weather conditions. A “security monitor” will be sitting on the front passenger seat during the early access period.
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Musk stated that Tesla would initially launch 10 to 20 vehicles before expanding to a thousand in the following months, and then introduce Cybercab – a model specially built for this purpose, without pedals or steering wheel.
The CEO has a history of exaggerated promises in the area of autonomy. After implying the possibility of autonomous car service in a 2016 business plan, he said three years later that Tesla customers could use their vehicles as robotaxis by 2020.
Tesla has long offered a system called Full Self driving (fully autonomous driving) that, despite the name, requires constant driver supervision and does not make the vehicles autonomous. The company said it will operate its robotaxis network with a “uninstured” version of the software, which will not require the presence of a human driver for monitoring.
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Safety is a crucial factor in autonomous vehicle operations. Incidents that hurt or kill people can lead to regulatory repression and negative attention to companies. Cruise, General Motors’s autonomous vehicle division (now extinct), suspended its fleet at the end of 2023 and had its operating license revoked in California after an accident that injured a pedestrian.
Uber Technologies stopped testing autonomous vehicles after one of its SUVs ran over and killed a pedestrian in Arizona in 2018. Less than three years later, the company agreed to sell its autonomous vehicle division.
Austin has become a center of operations with autonomous vehicles. Waymo, belonging to Google’s controller Alphabet, is expanding its performance in the city through a partnership with Uber. Amazon’s Zoox is also performing tests there.
In Texas, Tesla faces few restrictions to operate autonomous vehicles. Driver -free vehicles are required to be equipped with cameras, have insurance and obey traffic rules. Currently, a license for application transportation services (Rideshare) is not required.
At the federal level, authorities are taking measures to facilitate the implementation of autonomous vehicles without traditional controls such as steering wheel or pedals. The National Administration for Highway Traffic (NHTSA) said this month that it will simplify the process of obtaining exemption for this type of vehicle, which, according to the current policy, may take years to approve.
