By: Nick Gambino
Elon Musk has announced that Tesla is looking to launch self-driving taxis in Austin, Texas in June 2025. This is a big step forward for the company in their quest to be more than just a car manufacturer.
The Tesla Cybercab has mainly been tested in Tesla’s own factory with routes that max out at about 1.2 miles. There are supposedly thousands of cars driving autonomously, completely unsupervised, in the company’s Fremont, California factory right now. They plan to expand these self-driving Teslas to more factories in the near future.
“We just want to put our toe in the water, make sure everything is okay, then put a few more toes in the water, then put a foot in the water,” Musk said in an earnings call. “With safety of the general public and those in the car as our top priority.”
What makes Tesla’s robotaxi, as well other autonomous taxis like Waymo, fascinating is that the vehicles themselves don’t have a steering wheel, not even as a backup.
This was at least the case with the autonomous Teslas Musk showed off at an event held last year. In fact, those vehicles didn’t even have accelerator or brake pedals. It’s unclear whether that will be the case in the Cybercabs that launch in Austin later this year.
Beyond that, they also intend to allow owners of Tesla vehicles to rent out their cars for the Cybercab service. This should create an entire ecosystem that leverages the full scope of the Tesla product line.
Now, whether any of these timelines will stick is uncertain. Musk has a history of promising things by a certain date or year and has failed to deliver. While there’s no doubt Tesla has notched incredible milestones and made historical breakthroughs, I’d rather take the CEO’s promises with a grain of salt.
