Elon Musk doubles down on fully driverless Tesla robotaxis in Austin by end of year
Elon Musk doubles down on fully driverless Tesla robotaxis in Austin by end of year
Story by Karoline Leonard • 17h
Elon Musk is doubling down on his promise that Tesla robotaxis in Austin will be entirely driverless by the end of the year.
During an event for his artificial intelligence company xAI, the Tesla Inc. CEO said Tuesday the company's ride-hailing fleet will be fully autonomous in about three weeks.
"I think it's pretty much a solved problem, we're just going through validation right now," Musk said.
RELATED: Tesla releases Robotaxi app to all. But you can't catch a ride yet - and it's still not driverless.
He first teased the idea in October that the front passenger seat safety monitors would be removed by the end of the year. They've been there since the service launched in June with an invitation-only rider list.
The three-week countdown is coming as Musk says Tesla will double the size of its Austin-area fleet this month. That would bring it to about 60 Model Y robotaxis operating in a service area of about 173 square miles - potentially relieving the long wait list for a ride through the Tesla Robotaxi app.
It falls far short of Musk's earlier claim that 500 robotaxis would be on the streets in Austin by the end of the year. He's also said there would be about a thousand robotaxis operating in the San Francisco Bay Area by the end of 2025.
If Tesla removes its safety monitors, it will join Waymo as the only widely available fully autonomous ride-hailing service in Austin. Waymo, the industry-leader, is currently servicing five U.S. metros with plans to expand into more next year, including San Antonio and Dallas.
Both Waymo and Tesla have received criticism about road safety and operations, with Waymo taking flak recently after its robotaxis were found to have illegally passed stopped Austin ISD school buses 20 times since August.
MORE: Waymo recalling software after robotaxis repeatedly pass stopped Austin school buses
Tesla's robotaxis operate differently than other autonomous vehicles, relying solely on cameras and machine-learning technology rather than also relying on lidar or radar sensors. The Austin automaker's approach has drawn criticism from advocates who say Tesla's less expensive and more scalable method comes at the expense of road safety.
Tesla, which currently has from 15 to 30 vehicles operating in Austin, has had seven crashes since its June launch, including four in September. Waymo, which currently has about 100 vehicles operating across about 90 square miles, had nine. |
