Tesla’s First Few Robotaxis To Controlled Remotely

Tesla has long promised to launch a driverless taxi service in Austin, Texas, where it is headquartered, this June. The deadline is looming, but Tesla is not ready to give up on its plans.

Tesla has no plans to cancel the service. However, its scale and features will be very different from what was promised. Tesla plans to use a small internal fleet of 10-20 Model Y cars to provide the service in a limited geographic area of ​​Austin. The cars will be controlled remotely by operators.

At least, this is the combination of conditions for starting the experiment that Morgan Stanley representatives, who are familiar with Tesla’s current plans, insist on. From the point of view of maintaining its shaky reputation, the launch of the project is very important for the company, so it will try to reduce the risks caused by the imperfection of its own autopilot technology.

This approach is similar in many ways to what Waymo has been offering in other cities for years, and in Austin for the past few months. Tesla, meanwhile, has been promising since 2016 that every one of its cars will eventually become fully self-driving.