Tesla is launching its self-driving taxi service in Austin, USA. But contrary to expectations, the vehicles aren't exactly what you might think. A key detail reveals that autonomous driving is far from ready.
For several years, Tesla has been promising the arrival of a true Robotaxi, capable of driving alone, without any human intervention. The Californian manufacturer is banking on its Full Self-Driving system to make this vision a reality. While competitors like Waymo and Cruise are already testing driverless services in some American cities, the company is trying to catch up. This weekend, it confirmed the launch of a limited Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas.
But the announcement is disappointing. The vehicles will not drive alone. Each car will have a "safety monitor," a Tesla employee sitting in the front seat, capable of stopping or having the driver stop in the event of a problem. In other words, the system is not yet fully autonomous. The service will only operate in a limited geographic area, from 6 a.m. to midnight, and only for users invited to test the Robotaxi app. Rides will be unavailable in bad weather, and many rules will apply on board.
Tesla's Robotaxi works with an onboard agent to monitor driving
The details of this pilot version were revealed by the website Electrek. The information comes from invitations sent privately by Tesla to influencers present on the X platform. The documents list several strict conditions: use reserved for guests, fixed geographical area, prohibition of filming technical components, and even possible suspension in the event of inappropriate posting on social networks. Unlike Waymo, which tested for six months with and then without a driver before launching its service, the company seems to be rushing things to announce a timely launch.
Tesla's Robotaxi project therefore looks more like a supervised demonstration than a fully autonomous commercial service. Even if this first step allows data to be collected and risks to be limited, it above all shows that the promise of a 100% autonomous vehicle is still very far from reality. For the moment, the manufacturer is offering nothing more than a semi-automated shuttle service with an on-board agent, far from the announced revolution.
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