Tesla's Ambitious Plans for a Robotaxi Service by 2025

Elon Musk has announced his hopes to launch a robotaxi service that will allow people to hail self-driving Tesla vehicles in California and Texas by 2025. Musk stated that Tesla has already begun testing this service in the Bay Area with its employees.

These comments were made during Tesla's third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, which revealed more details than Musk provided just two weeks earlier at the unveiling event for the Cybertruck. During that event, Musk indicated that owners of Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y would soon have access to an "unsupervised" version of the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software specifically in California and Texas. However, he did not mention the robotaxi service, even though Tesla has hinted at this concept for quite some time.

It remains uncertain whether Tesla needs a permit from California's Department of Motor Vehicles to continue testing this service. The DMV has not yet responded to inquiries about the situation.

David Lau, Tesla's Vice President of Software Engineering, clarified during the earnings call that employees who are using the cars in the tests still have safety drivers present. Currently, no Tesla vehicles can operate completely autonomously without human intervention.

As of now, Tesla's Full Self-Driving software is classified as an advanced driver assistance system rather than a fully autonomous system. While it provides some automated driving capabilities on highways and in urban areas, it still requires the driver to remain attentive and able to take control if necessary.

Musk emphasized that the company would complete the necessary regulatory approval processes in California before offering this service to the public. He expressed frustration with the bureaucratic hurdles but believes that obtaining approvals will be easier in Texas. In California, launching a commercial robotaxi service typically involves several layers of approval from both the DMV and the California Public Utilities Commission. Currently, Waymo is the only company permitted to operate a commercial driverless robotaxi service in San Francisco.

Additionally, Musk speculated that the service could potentially launch in other states by the end of next year.

These ambitious claims come despite a history of Musk's overpromising on Tesla's autonomous driving capabilities. Back in 2016, he had stated in a now-deleted post on Tesla's website that "All Tesla Cars Being Produced Now Have Full Self-Driving Hardware," suggesting that converting Tesla vehicles into self-driving cars could happen quickly. However, the reality of hardware and software development has proven more complex.

Even the initial hardware claims have seen revisions. Some cars built with what Tesla refers to as "Hardware 3," which has been included since 2019, may not ultimately support full autonomous capabilities. Musk acknowledged this point during the recent call, indicating that if the software stops working with Hardware 3, Tesla would provide replacements at no extra cost to the owners.

Tesla, Musk, robotaxi