Revel is shutting down its Model Y-powered ride-hailing, which was basically Tesla Robotaxi

Revel announced that it is shutting down its ride-hailing service in New York, which was powered by modified Tesla Model Y vehicles.

Interestingly, it was basically Tesla’s current Robotaxi app.

Revel started with a ride-sharing fleet of electric scooters, but in 2021, it expanded into a ride-hailing fleet of Tesla Model Y vehicles in New York.

It’s essentially the same as the service Tesla recently launched in the Bay Area of California, which it called “Robotaxi.”

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Revel’s system was particularly interesting as it used modified Model Ys with the front passenger seat removed in some of the vehicles in the fleet to give more space to the rear passengers:

Over the last few years, Revel has entered the charging business. Initially, it was primarily to charge its own expanding fleet of electric vehicles, but it gradually expanded into large public charging stations.

After Tesla CEO Elon Musk stupidly fired the automaker’s entire charging team, Revel hired several of them to expand its charging network.

It is now operating five large-scale stations around New York City and one in San Francisco.

This week, Revel is shutting down its ride-hailing fleet to focus on its charging business.

Revel co-founder and CEO Frank Reig commented on TechCrunch:

“We have made the difficult decision that the best way we can keep the EV transition moving forward is by ending our rideshare service and focusing on building the fast charging infrastructure our biggest cities need to keep going electric.”

The company will sell its 165 electric vehicles, primarily Tesla Model Ys and Kia Niro EVs, as well as all its “for-hire vehicle license plates,” which are valued at up to $25,000 each.

Electrek’s Take

I could see Tesla buying their for-hire license plates to launch its “Robotaxi” app in New York, like it does in the Bay Area – aka ride-hailing with the driver using Tesla FSD.

Robotaxi in Austin is not that far from it too with the supervising driver being moved to the passenger front seat.

Revel shut down the service because it’s not profitable at this scale, and Tesla is heading the same direction with its Robotaxi service if it can’t make them fully autonomous, meaning without supervision.

It took Uber years to gain the scale to be profitable and Tesla is starting with just small fleets of 10-20 vehicles because that’s all it can support until it can achieve fully autonomy, which is always supposedly right around the corner for the automaker.