Tesla robotaxis—'with no one in them'—to hit roads this June
What's the story
Tesla is poised to change the game in the autonomous vehicle industry with an "unsupervised" robotaxi service.
The service will be first introduced in Austin, Texas, this June.
Elon Musk made the announcement during a recent earnings call and it marks a major acceleration from his previous timeline for fully autonomous vehicles.
Safety priority
Musk emphasizes safety in robotaxi rollout
Musk stressed on safety being the priority in this first-of-its-kind venture.
"We just want to put a toe in the water, make sure everything's okay, put a few more toes in the water, with safety of the general public and those in the car as a top priority," he said.
Notably, the vehicles will be owned by Tesla and not customer's personal cars.
AI advancements
Tesla's AI training compute increased by 400%
Tesla has reported a massive increase in its AI training compute, rising over 400% in 2024.
The company has also released footage of a number of Model 3 and Model Y cars driving "without human intervention" on a 1.9km route on Tesla's private, enclosed factory roads.
This development indicates that unsupervised Tesla vehicles will soon be driving around the same way in Texas as part of the robotaxi service launch.
Testing phase
Tesla's robotaxi service has been under testing
Tesla has been testing its robotaxi service with employees in the Bay Area since last year.
The test vehicles come with safety drivers behind the wheel, ready to intervene if necessary.
Musk expects to launch a paid ride-hailing service in California and Texas starting 2025, pending regulatory approval.
However, it's worth noting that Tesla is not currently licensed to operate a commercial autonomous ride-hailing service in California.
Future plans
Musk confident about unsupervised FSD launch
Notably, Musk has been confident that Tesla would launch unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) in California and other parts of the US later this year.
He also unveiled the company's sleek Cybercab last year, promising that it would go into production in 2026.
All of this shows Tesla's commitment to lead the autonomous vehicle industry and transform urban transportation.