Tesla is finally set to take its first real swing at autonomous ride-hailing. According to a new report from the Financial Times, the company’s long-teased robotaxi service will launch this weekend in Austin, Texas — but with just 10 vehicles on the road to start and little of the fanfare usually associated with an Elon Musk unveiling.
The report notes that Tesla’s robotaxis will initially operate within geo-fenced zones in Austin, steering clear of complex intersections. What’s more, each car will be backed up by a remote human teleoperator ready to take control if something goes wrong. It’s a strikingly subdued rollout from a CEO who once claimed Teslas would be operating as full self-driving robotaxis by 2020.
Tesla has been making steady progress with its Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta tests, with fans believing the company’s vision-only approach and vast fleet of connected vehicles will eventually give it a competitive edge. However, unlike Waymo, which already has over 1,500 fully driverless vehicles operating in four U.S. cities (and is eyeing entry into more), Tesla has yet to demonstrate true Level 4 autonomy.
Hardware is a major differentiator, though. While Waymo equips its vehicles with expensive lidar and radar arrays, Tesla’s minimalist approach uses only cameras and neural networks. It remains to be seen if Tesla’s promised low-cost, purpose-built “Cybercab” will be able to match Waymo’s real-world performance.
Musk, meanwhile, remains confident that existing Tesla owners could soon deploy their cars into a robotaxi network. Tesla’s robotaxi service may be launching as a controlled pilot with just 10 vehicles, but Musk has said the fleet could hit 1,000 cars “in a few months.”
As Tesla quietly kicks off its Austin robotaxi pilot this weekend, the following months will prove just how realistic the company’s long-awaited autonomy dream is.
