Johann Wilfred
- Tesla has rolled out its Autonomous Robotaxi fleet in Austin, Texas.
- The debut comes more than ten years after Tesla created the Autopilot feature for its vehicles.
- Elon Musk said he foresees the autonomous fleet as a service that will be part Uber and part Airbnb.
Tesla’s Robotaxi has officially gone live on June 22, in Austin, Texas, where residents were able to hail test-rides for a flat fee of $4.20.
Users can schedule autonomous rides using the Robotaxi app as per the company website. Once inside the Robotaxi, they can personalize ride features, such as seat positioning, climate settings, and music streaming.
This launch comes more than ten years after Tesla rolled out the autopilot feature for its vehicles. The upgrade was not a full transition to autonomous driving at the time, but it enabled advanced assistance to drivers, a step up from pure self-driving.
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“Super congratulations to the @Tesla_AI software & chip design teams on a successful @Robotaxi launch!! Culmination of a decade of hard work. Both the AI chip and software teams were built from scratch within Tesla,” read a later X post by Musk.
Multiple influencers have tested the car and posted videos online, including X user Zack under the handle @BLKMDL3.
Elon Musk has previously said that he sees the Robotaxi fleet as a product that behaves like part Airbnb and part Uber, where some cars in the fleet are owned by Tesla and some are given by Tesla owners who can earn money by doing so.
“Some people wonder, how do you go from this big fleet to actually monetizing the fleet in an autonomous situation? And it’s actually a combination of Airbnb and Uber to some degree. So (like), there’ll be some cars that Tesla owns itself, kind of like in an Uber fashion. But then, for the fleet that is owned by our customers, it will be like an Airbnb thing. You can add or subtract your car to the fleet whenever you want,” said Musk.
Autonomous driving vehicles have been previously flagged for being prone to accidents and mishaps due to glitches. In 2023, General Motors recalled its ‘Cruise’ autonomous fleet after a pedestrian was dragged to the side of a street in San Francisco, according to The Guardian.
