Part 4/11:
This is the big leap—full deployment, including transporting paying passengers in commercial environments. Achieving this requires multiple ongoing submissions, safety assessments, and detailed operational plans. Once granted, Tesla can operate autonomous taxis in approved areas with passenger fares, although regulatory permits like CPU (California Public Utilities) licenses are still necessary.
How Many Miles Are Needed, and How Quickly?
Based on expert analysis, Tesla might need approximately 500,000 miles of safe, driverless operation to convince regulators to move to Phase 2. Given Tesla’s fleet and operational scale, this milestone could be attained in just a few months—if they ramp up their driverless testing fleet efficiently.