Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently addressed a viral video showing a Tesla Model Y, labeled "Robotaxi," driving without a visible driver. Musk highlighted that these vehicles are factory-made Teslas capable of unsupervised autonomous driving. Tesla's VP of Autopilot and AI, Ashok Elluswamy, indicated the company plans to gradually expand its autonomous taxi service, initially in Austin.
While it's unclear if the vehicle is in testing or if Tesla has started public autonomous taxi services, Austin's vehicle management website lists Tesla as an autonomous vehicle operator in the "testing" phase. Other manufacturers are also testing, with Waymo marked as "deployed." Musk previously mentioned a cautious rollout of autonomous services, prioritizing safety.
In May, Musk announced the initial deployment of about 10 autonomous taxis, expanding to thousands over months, with plans to extend services to cities like San Francisco. He shared updates on Tesla's software advancements, suggesting a more advanced model is in development. Musk envisions widespread autonomous vehicle adoption in 2-3 years, emphasizing Tesla's AI capabilities.
Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein views the June rollout as part of Tesla's testing phase, predicting broader public access will take years. He forecasts significant industry impact by 2028, despite Musk's optimistic timeline for millions of autonomous taxis by 2026.
