There is still plenty of time to see him freely on the streets.
After years of promises and delays, Tesla's robotaxis were finally seen on the streets. The launch occurred last weekend in Austin, Texas, and as expected, it caused a huge stir on social media, but calm down, before you think that even being in the United States will stop.
From your application there is an important detail.
For now only very special guests are having that privilege, the initial fleet is small with something between 10 and 20 vehicles, all adapted with the Robotaxi brand, they are not yet using the long-awaited Cybercab, that vehicle with a futuristic design that Tesla revealed at the end of last year, for now the cars circulate in a fairly limited radius in Austin covering areas such as South Mark, Zucker Park and the eastern region, up to Highway 183.
Details of this Pre launch.
The booking process is similar to that of an Uber, you use an app, choose the destination and that's it, but there is a curious detail, there is a human operator in the front seat, he is instructed to remain silent, but he is there all the time, ready to take control if something goes wrong.
And to complete the security package, some cars are being followed by escort vehicles and there is also a team of remote drivers monitoring everything, this phase is super important for Tesla, they are calling it “early access program” a kind of beta test, but in real life.
The idea is to collect data, ensure that the system works safely and clearly avoid scandal if something goes wrong in the first days, which is why the presence of the human operator is essential, although the robot taxi is operating in autonomous mode, if any unforeseen event arises the operator can act immediately.
Now comes the most interesting context.
Tesla is entering a market that already has very well-established competitors, Waymo for example already operates more than 100 robotaxis in cities such as Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and curiously also in Austin, Amazon's Zuks has already announced that it will begin operating in Las Vegas towards the end of 2025 with the capacity to produce 10,000 robotaxis per year, and there is also Lift that promises to launch its own autonomous service in Dallas as early as 2026, so it seems that the future will really be one in which no one the more you will get the essence of driving, nor will you feel the thrill of driving.
And the next generations will say, as in many science fiction movies, something like "I can't believe that in the past they let humans drive vehicles", "it must have been dangerous to live in that time." and more.
This post has been shared on Reddit by @jorgebgt through the HivePosh initiative.