Tesla launches Robotaxi walks in Austin with major promises and unanswered questions

Tesla began to make journeys in the driver’s unanswered SUV there at Austin, a decade after the CEO Elon Musk began to do – and break – a myriad of promises about the capacity of her business to launch such a service.

Deployment will become the first big test of Musk’s conviction that it is possible to securely deploy fully autonomous vehicles using only cameras and an end -to -end AI – an approach that differs from other players in space like Waymo.

Sunday, many videos shared on social networks as well as on city sources have confirmed what Musk has been teasing for months: that the rides finally occur, in a Surely coincident Flat -rate fees of $ 4.20 per journey.

Tesla sent Invitations to early access During last week, approved customers, who were able to download and use the new Robotaxi application on Sunday to make hail of rides. We do not know how many people have received this invitation. But articles on Musk’s social media platform show that many of them have gone to Tesla strongest online supporters.

Invitations, as well as a new Robotaxi information page Posted on the Tesla website on June 22, confirms that the service will work every day from 6:00 am to 12:00 pm but “can be limited or unavailable in case of bad weather”. And, in particular, an employee of Tesla will be seated in the headquarters of the right front passenger as “security instructor”.

The Robotaxi information page also includes instructions on downloading the application, how to point out a lost item and the general rules for cyclists. It is always accompanied by the type of details that Waymo – the company AV belonging to Alphabet which operates a commercial robotaxis in Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin – has historically provided.

The Robotaxi service will be small to start, According to Musk. The initial fleet will be approximately 10 SUVs of the 2025 Y model operating in a closely defined area of ​​South Austin. This is in accordance with a first -hand story by Ed Niedermeyer, author of “Ludicrous, The Unfarned Story of Tesla Motors”, which is in Austin to monitor the deployment of Robotaxi. (Niedermeyer is co-animator of the Autiocast with the editor-in-chief of Techcrunch, Kirsten Korosec.)

Neidermeyer found what seems to be a Tesla Robotaxi depot – an indefinable car park dotted with trees near Ontorf Street in South Austin. The day before the launch, he spotted several Drutor without Driver YS – still with an employee behind the steering wheel – entering and leaving the parking lot. Groups of other Tesla Model Y vehicles, most with manufacturer plates, were also parked there.

This morning, he spotted the brand Tesla Model Y Robotaxis from the brand, this time with the employee on the headquarters of the front passenger, leaving the detention zone. He observed one of the brand robotaxis, who had not yet picked up a rider, suddenly hitting his brakes twice – once in the middle of an intersection. We do not know why the vehicle behaved in this way. However, in a video that Techcrunch has seen, both cases occurred when the Tesla went through police vehicles which were located in parking lots adjacent to the road.

Gaps

Before the launch, Musk shared Dribs and Drabs on the launch of Tesla Robotaxi in some interviews and articles on X. Even now, almost all the information on the launch of Robotaxi was provided by the biggest supporters of the company.

In fact, Tesla actively tried to delete information on the Robotaxi service. Tesla has tried to block the request for public techcrunch files from the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT). The company also tried to block the city of Austin to meet a request for reuters files, According to the information service.

“Tesla seeks to be as transparent as possible, however, as explained more below, some of the information requested cannot be published because it is confidential information, commercial secrets and / or commercial information exchanged with the TXDOT in conjunction with business with TXDOT,” wrote Taylor White, a main lawyer on the infrastructure for Tesla, Attory General.

One of the most interesting deployment strategies is the use of the company of a human “security instructor”.

We do not know what role these security monitors will play and how much, even a control, they will have. These employees are probably not supposed to try to intervene if the software is about to do something wrong. But they can have access to a kind of killing switch that can stop the car if this happens.

Historically, autonomous vehicle companies such as Waymo and the old cruise have tested their respective self-clarification technology with a human security operator driving and a second engineer on the front passenger headquarters. Finally, this could be reduced to a person sitting in the passenger seat before removing them completely. This practice was traditionally carried out during the test phase – and not commercial operations.

Tesla does not use futuristic vehicles, nicknamed cybercabs, that have been revealed On October 10, 2024. Instead, Tesla Model Y 2025 vehicles are equipped with what Musk describes as a new “unleumed” version of Tesla’s full software.

Tesla will not use His camera in the cabin during the default rides. The company says it will only be used if a rider requests support or in an emergency. He will use the camera after the end of a trip to “confirm the preparation of Robotaxi for his next trip”.

Tesla encourages horsemen with early access to take photos and videos of their experiences, although she says that she “may suspend or end access to robotaxis” if cyclists violate her rules, including if they “disseminate content on a social media platform or similar support representing a violation of these rules or poor use of Robotaxi”. (This includes cyclists who agree not to smoke, vape, drink alcohol, drugs or consume the Robotaxi in the context of a crime.)

Musk and other Tesla leaders praised the milestone on X, with Ashok Elluswamy, the head of the company’s autonomous team, publishing a photo of the “Robotaxi launch evening” from A non -disclosed location.

“Great congratulations to the software and chip design teams @tesla_ai for a successful launch @robotaxi !!

But at least one rider said Sunday has an experience where Tesla’s distance assistance team had to help in one way or another. We do not immediately know what happened during this walk, but this same rider said later that the journey was very smooth.