Tesla is preparing for a June 12 launch of its robotaxi service in Austin, Bloomberg reports, citing a source familiar with the development. June 12 is a date discussed internally, and it is still subject to change, the source added.
CEO Elon Musk first announced Tesla’s fully autonomous ride-hailing service in an earnings call in January. A couple of months later, the company began testing its Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology with a small group of employees in Austin and San Francisco. Those initial tests, however, involved supervised FSD, meaning a driver was always present behind the wheel.
In the past few days, Tesla has taken further steps toward launch. According to Musk, the company has been testing its self-driving Model Ys on the streets of Austin, with no driver behind the wheel. With zero incidents reported so far, the service should go from factory to customer next month, he added.
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The confirmation arrives just days after Musk said he was going to make himself available at his companies “24/7” to stay “super focused” on critical projects. He also announced that he would be stepping down from his role in the US government and its DOGE project.
Little else has been shared about Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing service. Musk confirmed that it would begin with a small fleet of 10-20 Model Ys, but details about public testing or booking a Tesla robotaxi are scarce.
Before Waymo launched its service in Austin in March, it tested the service for a month with a select group of customers who had voluntarily signed up. The Google-owned company has conducted similar months-long public trials in nearly all the cities where it currently operates.
Additionally, Waymo offers its service in Austin through Uber and has its own dedicated app, Waymo One, for many other regions. It’s unclear how Tesla will approach this, but Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has publicly expressed his desire to get Tesla robotaxis onboard.
We should have more confirmed details in the next few weeks, but The Verge reports that Tesla’s service will be invite-only at launch. It could be initially reserved for Tesla investors, popular social media influencers, or close friends of Musk.
Additionally, the report states the Model Ys used for the service will be remotely operated by humans, who will take over the cars in case they run into trouble.
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