Tesla launches robotaxi service in Austin with 20 Model Y
Tesla has completed the debut of its ‘Robotaxi’ service, announced a few days ago for 22 June. In an uncharacteristically quiet launch event, Tesla CEO Elon Musk merely announced the launch on his social media platform. A number of pictures of the Model Y taken by private individuals on social media also bear witness to the start of operations. Journeys are to cost a flat rate of 4.20 dollars.
However, as expected, the service is very limited at the start. There are only a few vehicles available, and the operating area is limited to a small part of Austin. There is always a safety driver in the front passenger seat who can intervene if necessary. Passengers, who must be at least 18 years old, sit in the back seat. According to media reports, Tesla also wants to avoid bad weather and difficult junctions.
The launch on Sunday afternoon local time was rather unspectacular, also in view of the small fleet. Musk had previously announced that Tesla would initially only deploy ten to 20 vehicles in Austin. Locally built Model Ys with standard hardware will be used, which have special software that is optimised for the geographically limited area in Austin. The use of production Model Ys has caused much debate, as Tesla does not use ultrasound, radar or the expensive lidar sensors in its driving assistants and instead relies solely on cameras. Some experts consider laser-based lidar sensors to be indispensable for realising a safe autonomous driving system. Waymo’s robotaxis also use lidar sensors.
Tesla also has a tight schedule: Tests without a driver on board only started in Austin at the end of May, and it has been observed that these are always accompanied by another Model Y with a driver. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the driver in the following car will be able to stop the driverless car remotely if a problem arises. Waymo, on the other hand, tested its systems for six months with a safety driver and a further six months without a safety driver before the commercial launch with customers on board. Google’s sister company currently operates over 1,500 robotaxis and carries out more than 250,000 journeys per week in four US cities (including Austin).
With a purely camera-based system, Tesla would have a major cost advantage in the production of autonomous vehicles. The actual robotaxi called Cybercab, which was designed entirely without a steering wheel, is also to rely solely on cameras and therefore be offered at a significantly lower price, which could contribute to the rapid spread of the vehicles. Elon Musk had announced in 2016 that every Tesla built since then would have the necessary hardware for autonomous driving, which could be activated via a software update; however, there are now major doubts about this. In response to a direct question from a user about when Tesla will offer unsupervised autonomous driving to its customers, Musk recently gave an evasive answer.
According to this, the vehicles in Austin will run software that has around four times as many parameters as the current US customer version FSD v13. Musk said that he could imagine this software being used in the customer fleet before the end of the year. Tesla is already using its driverless system on closed sites, such as factories, to move cars from the factory floor to the car park. According to Musk, a driverless Model Y built in Austin will be delivered directly to the customer’s door on 28 June, including on public roads.
However, the modest size of the Robotaxi service is set to grow rapidly. According to the Tesla CEO, the fleet is set to increase to more than 1,000 vehicles in a few months, including through offshoots in other cities. However, announcements are a thing with Musk. He initially wanted his cars to drive fully autonomously across the USA as early as 2017.
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