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Elon Musk revealed that Tesla had been testing a fleet of autonomous robotaxis in the Bay Area of San Francisco over the past few months to improve its prototype ride-hailing app.
Speaking at the company’s Q3 2024 Financial Results earnings call this week, Elon Musk revealed that a select number of Tesla employees have been able to summon autonomously operated Tesla vehicles and use them for trips inside the Bay Area.
Musk said: “With the development app, you can request a ride, and it’ll take you anywhere in the Bay Area,” going to add that the vehicles arrive with a safety driver at the wheel, ready to intervene if anything goes wrong.
Robotaxi wireless charging
No hands required pic.twitter.com/XL746DkGhb
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 18, 2024
Far from the completely control-bereft robotaxis that Tesla unveiled at its We, Robot event earlier this month, the autonomous vehicles Musk speaks of are modified versions of existing Tesla products running the latest version of the company’s Full Self-Driving software.
Currently, Tesla isn’t officially licensed to operate a commercial autonomous ride-hailing platform like Waymo and Cruise. However, employees will have been granted permission to help refine its ride-hailing app. Musk said he hopes to offer a ride-hailing service in California and Texas next year, pending regulatory approval.
During the earrings call, Musk avoided a direct question about the “affordable” Tesla that has been rumored for many years, effectively stating that any $25,000 vehicle would have to be autonomous.
“Basically, having a regular 25K model is pointless. It would be silly. It would be completely at odds with what we believe,” Musk said.
Tesla is testing a robotaxi service that Elon Musk claims will launch next year https://t.co/5xBZOMm3qc
— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) October 23, 2024
This revelation, alongside the news that Tesla is already testing its ride-hailing offering, appears to confirm that Elon is going all-in with his plans for a Tesla Network. In this network, owners can effectively put their highly autonomous vehicles to good use by offering them as a robotaxi service when they are idle or sent out to deliver parcels.
According to The Verge, Tesla executives described certain functions in the current Tesla app, like profile sharing and synchronizing settings across different vehicles, as laying the groundwork for an upcoming robotaxi service.
