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Tesla is finally rolling out its long-awaited robotaxi service this June, kicking things off in Austin, Texas. From there, the company says it plans to expand the ride-hailing network across the US and eventually worldwide.
CEO Elon Musk shared the news with investors on Wednesday (Jan. 29), confirming that the robotaxis will operate without a human driver and will rely on an unsupervised version of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software, which hasn’t been released yet. The billionaire sees the company operating unsupervised activity “with our internal fleet in several cities by the end of the year.”
Musk stated: “So, I talked to the team… we feel confident in being able to do an initial launch of unsupervised, no one in the car, full self-driving in Austin in June.”
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Highlights
– We expect Model Y to become the world's bestselling car of any kind for the 2nd year in a row
– And it's become even better, with the New Model Y now launched in all markets. Production will begin… pic.twitter.com/wUrnzI78QN
— Tesla (@Tesla) January 29, 2025
He explained that Tesla wants to smooth out the details before launching the service, like making sure the billing system runs seamlessly and that robotaxis actually stop at the right pickup spots when summoned. Musk added that Tesla is “looking for a safety level that is significantly above the average human driver,” though he did not clarify how the company would carry this out.
In October, he mentioned that Tesla’s dedicated robotaxi would “probably” go into production before 2027 and is expected to cost under $30,000.
Tesla moves closer to fully autonomous vehicles, starting in Austin
Earlier today, Tesla announced a new record for Autopilot-driven miles between accidents in the last quarter. According to the company, Teslas using Autopilot in 2024 covered 5.94 million miles per accident, compared to the US average of just 0.70 million miles.
In the 4th quarter, we recorded one crash for every 5.94 million miles driven in which drivers were using Autopilot technology. For drivers who were not using Autopilot technology, we recorded one crash for every 1.08 million miles driven. By comparison, the most recent data…
— Omead Afshar (@omead) January 29, 2025
Meanwhile, Tesla recently gave a glimpse of its self-driving capabilities. Newly built vehicles at the Fremont Gigafactory drove themselves about 1.2 miles from the production line to their assigned loading dock lanes without any human intervention. Musk added on the call that this same automation will be happening “soon” at GigaTexas as well.
Featured image: Tesla
