Tesla’s Robotaxi service is coming to Texas roads
The company says Tesla owners can finally do it Transform your car For self-driving taxis that can collect fares while they are not in use. However, the company did not release a timeline on Sunday due to its plans.
Tesla’s driver assistance technology was the subject Federal Government Safety Probecustomer complaints related to two recalls and reports that the vehicle could suddenly brake and collide with a stationary object without obvious reason –Including emergency vehicles. This technology is different from Tesla’s autonomous capabilities, including the old autopilot function and the new fully automated driving (with supervisory) function. The assistance function requires drivers to stay behind the wheels and keep an eye on the road at all times. Autonomous features do not require driver action or attention.
These old technology issues raise questions about the safety of Tesla’s new autonomous technology, says Sam Abuelsamid, an automotive analyst focusing on autonomous technology at Telemetry Insight. A fully autonomous driving (supervisor) “probably works fine for several hours at a time, making very serious mistakes randomly in ways that are not necessarily reproducible,” he says.
Unlike other autonomous technology developers who use many expensive sensors to detect obstacles around vehicles, Tesla relies solely on cameras. Some experts have questioned the choice. The glare of the sun Previous Tesla clashes have been blamed Emergency vehicle. But financial experts say this approach could give Tesla the advantages of getting cheaper technology faster in the hands of consumers.
Tesla did not answer questions about Robotaxi’s safety. Mask said earlier this month that the company is “very paranoid about safety.”
There’s a lot of traffic
Tesla suddenly enters the busy American self-driving car space. Waymo first launched driverless services in Metro Phoenix, Arizona in 2020 and is currently operating in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and parts of Austin. We plan to offer open services in Atlanta, Georgia and Miami, Florida soon. Here, customers can order WAYMO using the Uber app.
Amazon– Owned Zoox says it will launch its own autonomous service in Las Vegas later this year. May Mobility aims to provide rides around Atlanta through the Lyft app this year. This spring, a subsidiary of VW Moia announced that it will launch autonomous driving services in Los Angeles in 2026 through the Uber app.
The experience of these companies shows that Tesla has several logistical hurdles to jump before Robotaxi services expands widely. There is a human role. A remote assistant worker may be on hand to help disrupt the rider remotely. Maintenance workers may repair your car during downtime. A cleaner may clean up trash, lost items, or anything worse than what is left behind by the rider.
There are also infrastructure needs. VW’s Moia has been operating an electric ride-sharing service in Hamburg, Germany since 2019, and uses that experience to prepare the final driverless vehicle. The company determined that a developed decentralized footprint would be required across all urban IT services. The scattered depots “will host the vehicle, provide charging and maintenance infrastructure and provide the opportunity to carry out constant safety checks on the vehicle,” says Sascha Meyer, CEO of the company.
In other words, there is a big difference between a handful of self-driving cars and self-driving services.