Just about six months after Tesla began testing its new Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, the company is now allowing these cars to roam the city without a safety monitor on board.
Eliminating the human safety monitors is a significant move towards Tesla’s goal of rolling out a true commercial Robotaxi service, a plan that has been years in the making.
CEO Elon Musk has spent nearly a decade claiming that Tesla’s vehicles were only a software update away from being fully autonomous. Now, he’s on the verge of launching a service designed to rival Waymo, the Alphabet-owned company that he stated last week “never really had a chance against Tesla.”
The absence of safety monitors is likely to draw increased scrutiny on Tesla’s ongoing tests in Austin, especially once the company begins offering rides in these empty cars. Since June, Tesla’s small test fleet has been involved in at least seven crashes; details about these incidents are scarce, as the company heavily redacts its reports to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Over the weekend, videos of an empty Tesla Model Y SUV circulated on social media, and on Sunday, Musk confirmed that the company was testing “with no occupants.” Neither Musk nor Tesla has indicated how quickly they will start offering rides to customers without a safety monitor. A post from Tesla’s X account hinted at their progression: “Slowly, then all at once.” Tesla’s head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, commented, “And so it begins!”
Tesla began offering rides in Austin to selected influencers and customers back in June, initially with an employee seated in the passenger side to take control if necessary. By September, those safety monitors had moved to the driver’s seat. The company has since eliminated the waitlist and gradually expanded its service area to cover a significant portion of the greater Austin metropolitan area. However, the fleet size has remained relatively small, numbering around 25 to 30 cars, according to many fans.
Musk has stated that Tesla plans to operate its own fleet of Robotaxis and previously claimed that this fleet would cover “half of the population of the U.S.” by the end of this year. That ambitious goal, like many of Musk’s projections, has been dialed down; in November, he indicated that Tesla expected to roughly double its existing fleet in Austin, estimating around 60 vehicles.
Tesla has also been testing a ride-hail service in the San Francisco area, utilizing the company’s advanced driver assistance software. California’s regulations require Tesla to merge multiple permits to offer fully autonomous rides in the state, whereas Texas does not have such requirements.
Musk has frequently discussed the idea of allowing Tesla owners to add their personal cars to the company’s Robotaxi fleet. In 2016, he even assured that every Tesla vehicle manufactured had all the necessary hardware to eventually become autonomous. This turned out to be inaccurate, and that blog post has been removed from Tesla’s website amid various legal challenges. Tesla has updated its driver assistance technology several times, resulting in millions of cars on the road that, according to Musk in January, will require upgrades to achieve full autonomy.
