The company said Tesla owners will eventually be able to convert their cars into self-driving taxis that can charge fares when not in use. But the company did not release a schedule on Sunday.
Tesla’s driver assistance technology has been a federal safety investigation, two recalls and customer complaints related to reports that these vehicles suddenly brake suddenly for obvious reasons and may collide with fixed objects, including emergency vehicles. The technology includes old autonomous driving capabilities and newer complete autonomous driving (supervisory) capabilities, which are different from Tesla’s autonomous capabilities. With assistive features, the driver must always stay behind the steering wheel and keep his attention at all times. Autonomous features do not require any drivers or attention.
These older technologies raise questions about the security of Tesla’s new autonomous technology, which focuses on autonomous technology with telemetry insights. He said that fully autonomous driving (with supervision) “can last for hours at a time and then randomly make very serious mistakes in ways that are not necessarily repeatable.”
Unlike other autonomous technology developers who use many more expensive sensors to detect obstacles around the vehicle, Tesla depends only on the camera. Some experts have doubts about this option, which could lead to problems with Sun Glare and have been blamed for previous Tesla collisions with emergency vehicles. But financial experts say this approach could allow Tesla to master its cheaper technology faster.
Tesla did not answer questions about Robotaxi security. Musk said earlier this month that the company was “very paranoid about security.”
Busy traffic
Tesla suddenly entered the space of self-driving cars in the United States. Waymo first launched a driverless service in Metro Phoenix, Arizona in 2020 and now operates in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and Austin. It plans to open services soon in Atlanta, Georgia and Miami, Florida, where customers can order Waymo using the Uber app.
Amazon-owned Zoox said it will launch its own autonomous service in Las Vegas later this year. May Mobility aims to provide rides around Atlanta this year through the Lyft app. Volkswagen Moia subsidiary announced this spring that it will launch autonomous driving services in Los Angeles on the Uber app in 2026.
The experience of these companies shows that Tesla has several logistical hurdles ahead of the wide expansion of its Robotaxi services. There are human roles: Remote aid workers may help remotely confused riders on site; maintenance personnel may repair cars during downtime; cleaners may remove garbage, lost items, or anything worse left by the rider.
There is also infrastructure demand. Volkswagen’s Moia has been operating an electric ride in Hamburg, Germany since 2019 and uses this experience to prepare for the ultimate driverless car. The company determined that it would require a developed and decentralized footprint in any city IT service. The company’s CEO Sascha Meyer said the decentralized warehouses will “receive vehicles and provide charging and maintenance infrastructure and have the opportunity to conduct ongoing safety checks for vehicles.”
In other words: there is a big difference between a few self-driving cars and self-driving services.
