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Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Launch Robotaxi Service in Austin This June
In a recent earnings call discussing financial results for 2024, Elon Musk announced that Tesla will be introducing a paid autonomous ride-hailing service in Austin, Texas. According to reports from TechCrunch, the company plans to utilize vehicles with no human driver behind the wheel and its yet-to-be-released unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) software.
The robotaxi service is set to launch internally with Tesla’s own fleet in June before expanding to other locations across the United States. Interestingly, Musk revealed that next year, Tesla owners will be able to add their vehicles to the company’s robotaxi fleet at their discretion, similar to how individuals list and unlist properties on Airbnb.
Musk emphasized the importance of ironing out any technical issues prior to the service’s release, including ensuring seamless billing and precise pickup and drop-off locations. This is likely an attempt to avoid the pitfalls faced by competitors in the autonomous transportation sector.
In preparation for this launch, Tesla plans to release its unsupervised FSD software in California and other US regions before the end of the year. It remains to be seen if Musk’s ambitious timeline will come to fruition, given his history of overpromising on timelines.
Notably, Waymo has already begun offering fully autonomous rides to select users in Austin since late 2024 and is set to launch a more extensive service within the city later this year.
Source: http://www.engadget.com
