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Looking ahead: Tesla will launch a self-driving cab service in Texas this year. Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, expressed his confidence that the company would launch an initial “unsupervised, no-driver, full self-driving cab service” service in Austin by June. Musk
According to the company operates thousands of autonomous cars every day at its Fremont plant and hopes that the robotaxi service will be commercially available within a few short months. He also expects Tesla owners in California and elsewhere to have access to unsupervised Full Self-Driving software (FSD) by the end the year. Musk addressed Tesla’s initial decision to launch only in one city. “We’re… putting our toe in the water gently at first just to make sure everything is cool.” He stressed the company’s cautious attitude, adding that expansion into other markets will happen once Tesla is confident about the safety of passengers and the public.
Musk announced Tesla’s self driving robotaxi service at a Cybertruck prototype launch in the fall of last year. He stated that the company aimed for the service to be available in Texas and California using Model Y SUVs or Model 3 sedans by 2025.
Since that time, neither Musk nor Tesla have provided any further updates. Bloomberg reported that Tesla had been in talks with Austin city officials regarding the launch of this service. According to the report Tesla employees have worked with Austin’s autonomous vehicles task force to address safety concerns since at least May 20, 2024.
Musk revealed in October that Tesla was testing its robotaxi service with employees using a yet-to-be released app. Each vehicle had a safety driving onboard. It is unclear if Tesla will follow a similar strategy in Austin before officially launching this service.
This could soon change. Musk shared video footage that appeared to show Tesla vehicles autonomously driving from the factory to designated dock loading lanes without human interaction. Musk says that this demonstration is a major step towards achieving unsupervised self-driving.
