Tesla is about to launch ‘Robotaxi’ in Bay Area, but with someone in the driver’s seat

Tesla is stripping all meaning from the word “Robotaxi” as it plans to expand its supposedly autonomous ride-hailing program to the Bay Area as soon as this weekend, albeit with a driver in the driver’s seat.

As we have often highlighted over the last few months, Tesla’s ‘Robotaxi’ launch is purely about optics.

Tesla is not yet ready to launch a level 4 autonomous driving system, but Elon Musk needs Tesla to achieve a win in self-driving after years of failed promises.

They decided to launch “Robotaxi”, a ride-hailing service in Austin, Texas, but due to the automaker not being ready to deploy level 4 autonomy, it had to add a safety monitor in the passenger front seat at all times.

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That passenger has access to controls capable of stopping the vehicle at all times, which is similar to how Tesla’s consumer version of ‘Supervised Full Self-Driving’ works. In short, it’s basically ‘Tesla Supervised Full Self-Driving’, but with the supervisor moving from the driver’s seat to the front passenger’s seat.

Those supervisors have already had dozens of interventions over just 7,000 miles in Austin over the last month.

Now, Tesla is looking to launch its ‘Robotaxi’ in the Bay Area. Rumors are that it could be as soon as this weekend.

However, during Tesla’s earnings call this week, Tesla’s head of self-driving, Ashok Elluswamy, confirmed that it will be with “a person in the driver’s seat”:

“The next is the San Francisco Bay Area. We are working with the government to get approval here, and meanwhile, we will launch the service with a person in the driver’s seat just to expedite while we wait for regulatory approval.”

The Tesla executive claims that Tesla is “waiting for regulatory approval”, but last we heard, Tesla has yet to apply for the proper permits to commercially operate autonomous vehicles in California.

Electrek’s Take

To be clear, this is no different than an Uber driver who owns a Tesla with FSD picking you up at the airport. Tesla is looking to launch an Uber service in the Bay Area with employees at the wheel who use FSD, and it is going to call it ‘Robotaxi’.

It’s no more than a distraction from the fact that Tesla can’t deliver a level 4 autonomous driving system.