Musk says Tesla launching robotaxis today in Texas

A fully functional, pre-production Tesla Cybercab, also known as the Robotaxi, is seen on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 29,2024. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
After driverless Tesla Model Ys were spotted traversing Austin, Texas streets on Sunday morning, CEO Elon Musk posted on his social platform X that Tesla's 'robotaxi launch' would start this afternoon with rides for a flat fee of US$4.20.
A Reuters witness saw several Tesla 'robotaxis' on Sunday morning in a popular area of the Texas capital called South Congress with no one in the driver's seat but one person in the passenger seat.
Tesla planned to have front-seat riders acting as 'safety monitors,' though it remained unclear how much control they would have over the vehicles. Videos of driverless Teslas have also been posted on social media but it was not known if the vehicles carried any passengers.
As the date of the planned robotaxi launch approached, Texas lawmakers moved to enact rules on autonomous vehicles in the state. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, on Friday signed legislation requiring a state permit to operate self-driving vehicles.
The law does not take effect until September 1, but the governor's approval of it on Friday signals state officials from both parties want the driverless-vehicle industry to proceed cautiously. A group of Democratic state lawmakers earlier this week asked Tesla to delay its planned robotaxi trial because of the legislation.
Tesla TSLA.Odid not respond to requests for comment. The governor's office declined to comment.
The law softens the state's previous anti-regulation stance on autonomous vehicles. A 2017 Texas law specifically prohibited cities from regulating self-driving cars.
In recent days, Tesla has sent invites to a select group of Tesla online influencers for a small and carefully monitored robotaxi trial, which the company has said would include 10 or 20 Model Y vehicles operated in a limited zone of Austin.
The law requires autonomous-vehicle operators to get approval from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles before operating on public streets without a human driver. It also gives state authorities the power to revoke permits if they deem a driverless vehicle 'endangers the public,' and requires firms to provide information on how police and first responders can deal with their driverless vehicles in emergency situations.
The law's requirements for getting a state permit to operate an 'automated motor vehicle' are not particularly onerous but require a firm to attest it can safely operate within the law.
It defines an automated vehicle as having at least 'Level 4' autonomous-driving capability under a recognized standard, meaning it can drive itself with no human driver under specified conditions, such as within a limited area.
Level 5 autonomy is the top level and means a car can drive itself anywhere, under any conditions.
Compliance remains far easier than in some states, most notably California, which requires extensive submission of vehicle-testing data under state oversight.
Musk's safety pledges
The Tesla robotaxi launch, which the company warned might be delayed, comes after more than a decade of CEO Elon Musk's unfulfilled promises to deliver self-driving Teslas.
Most of Tesla's sky-high stock value now rests on its ability to deliver robotaxis and humanoid robots, according to many industry analysts. Tesla is by far the world's most valuable automaker.
Musk has said Tesla would be 'super paranoid' about safety for the Austin rollout. The company planned to operate only in areas it considered the safest.
The service in Austin will have other restrictions as well. Tesla plans to avoid bad weather, difficult intersections, and will not carry anyone below the age of 18. Musk has said he is ready to delay the start for safety reasons, if needed.
The planned launch has generated buzz among Tesla fans.
'Wow. We are going to ride in driverless Teslas in just a few days. On public roads,' posted Omar Qazi, who has 635,200 followers on X, writes often about Tesla using the handle @WholeMarsBlog, and received an invite.
Commercializing autonomous vehicles has been risky and expensive. GM's GM.N Cruise was shut down after a fatal accident and regulators are closely watching Tesla and its rivals, Alphabet's GOOGL.O Waymo, which runs a paid robotaxi service in several U.S. cities, and Amazon's AMZN.O Zoox.
Tesla is also bucking the young industry's standard practice of relying on multiple technologies to read the road, using only cameras. That, Musk says, will be safe and much less expensive than lidar and radar systems added by rivals.
Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu in Austin and Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Writing by Brian Thevenot; Editing by Peter Henderson, Helen Popper, Deepa Babington and Chris Reese

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A fully functional, pre-production Tesla Cybercab, also known as the Robotaxi, is seen on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 29,2024. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel) After driverless Tesla Model Ys were spotted traversing Austin, Texas streets on Sunday morning, CEO Elon Musk posted on his social platform X that Tesla's 'robotaxi launch' would start this afternoon with rides for a flat fee of US$4.20. A Reuters witness saw several Tesla 'robotaxis' on Sunday morning in a popular area of the Texas capital called South Congress with no one in the driver's seat but one person in the passenger seat. Tesla planned to have front-seat riders acting as 'safety monitors,' though it remained unclear how much control they would have over the vehicles. Videos of driverless Teslas have also been posted on social media but it was not known if the vehicles carried any passengers. As the date of the planned robotaxi launch approached, Texas lawmakers moved to enact rules on autonomous vehicles in the state. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, on Friday signed legislation requiring a state permit to operate self-driving vehicles. The law does not take effect until September 1, but the governor's approval of it on Friday signals state officials from both parties want the driverless-vehicle industry to proceed cautiously. A group of Democratic state lawmakers earlier this week asked Tesla to delay its planned robotaxi trial because of the legislation. Tesla not respond to requests for comment. The governor's office declined to comment. The law softens the state's previous anti-regulation stance on autonomous vehicles. A 2017 Texas law specifically prohibited cities from regulating self-driving cars. In recent days, Tesla has sent invites to a select group of Tesla online influencers for a small and carefully monitored robotaxi trial, which the company has said would include 10 or 20 Model Y vehicles operated in a limited zone of Austin. The law requires autonomous-vehicle operators to get approval from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles before operating on public streets without a human driver. It also gives state authorities the power to revoke permits if they deem a driverless vehicle 'endangers the public,' and requires firms to provide information on how police and first responders can deal with their driverless vehicles in emergency situations. The law's requirements for getting a state permit to operate an 'automated motor vehicle' are not particularly onerous but require a firm to attest it can safely operate within the law. It defines an automated vehicle as having at least 'Level 4' autonomous-driving capability under a recognized standard, meaning it can drive itself with no human driver under specified conditions, such as within a limited area. Level 5 autonomy is the top level and means a car can drive itself anywhere, under any conditions. Compliance remains far easier than in some states, most notably California, which requires extensive submission of vehicle-testing data under state oversight. Musk's safety pledges The Tesla robotaxi launch, which the company warned might be delayed, comes after more than a decade of CEO Elon Musk's unfulfilled promises to deliver self-driving Teslas. Most of Tesla's sky-high stock value now rests on its ability to deliver robotaxis and humanoid robots, according to many industry analysts. Tesla is by far the world's most valuable automaker. Musk has said Tesla would be 'super paranoid' about safety for the Austin rollout. The company planned to operate only in areas it considered the safest. The service in Austin will have other restrictions as well. Tesla plans to avoid bad weather, difficult intersections, and will not carry anyone below the age of 18. Musk has said he is ready to delay the start for safety reasons, if needed. The planned launch has generated buzz among Tesla fans. 'Wow. We are going to ride in driverless Teslas in just a few days. On public roads,' posted Omar Qazi, who has 635,200 followers on X, writes often about Tesla using the handle @WholeMarsBlog, and received an invite. Commercializing autonomous vehicles has been risky and expensive. GM's GM.N Cruise was shut down after a fatal accident and regulators are closely watching Tesla and its rivals, Alphabet's GOOGL.O Waymo, which runs a paid robotaxi service in several U.S. cities, and Amazon's AMZN.O Zoox. Tesla is also bucking the young industry's standard practice of relying on multiple technologies to read the road, using only cameras. That, Musk says, will be safe and much less expensive than lidar and radar systems added by rivals. Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu in Austin and Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Writing by Brian Thevenot; Editing by Peter Henderson, Helen Popper, Deepa Babington and Chris Reese

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THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Despite the empty pledges the promises kept coming. Last year in January, Musk said, 'Next year for sure, we'll have over a million robotaxis.' Would you settle for 10 or 12? Musk appears to be on the verge of making his robotaxi vision a reality with a test run of a small squad of self-driving cabs in Austin, Texas, starting Sunday. Reaching a million may take a year or more, however, although the billionaire should be able to expand the service this year if the Austin demo is a success. The stakes couldn't be higher, nor the challenges. While Musk was making those 'next year' promises, rival Waymo was busy deploying driverless taxis in Los Angeles, San Diego, Austin and other cities by using a different technology that allowed it to get to market faster. It just completed its 10 millionth paid ride. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Boycotts related to Musk's politics have tanked Tesla's sales. Rival electric vehicle makers with newly competitive models have stolen market share. And investors are on edge after a $150 billion stock wipeout when Musk picked a social media fight with a U.S. president overseeing federal car regulators who could make the robotaxi rollout much more difficult. The stock has recovered somewhat after Musk said he regretted some of his remarks. Tesla shareholders have stood by Musk over the years because he's defied the odds by building a successful standalone electric vehicle company — self-driving car promises aside — and making them a lot of money in the process. A decade ago, Tesla shares traded for around $18. The shares closed Friday at $322. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Musk says the Austin test will begin modestly enough, with just 10 or 12 vehicles picking up passengers in a limited area. But then it will quickly ramp up and spread to other cities, eventually reaching hundreds of thousands if not a million vehicles next year. Some Musk watchers on Wall Street are skeptical. 'How quickly can he expand the fleet?' asks Garrett Nelson, an analyst at CFRA. 'We're talking maybe a dozen vehicles initially. It's very small.' Morningstar's Seth Goldstein says Musk is being classic Musk: Promising too much, too quickly. 'When anyone in Austin can download the app and use a robotaxi, that will be a success, but I don't think that will happen until 2028,' he says. 'Testing is going to take a while.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Musk's tendency to push up the stock high with a bit of hyperbole is well known among investors. In 2018, he told Tesla stockholders he had 'funding secured' to buy all their shares at a massive premium and take the company private. But he not only lacked a written commitment from financiers, according to federal stock regulators who fined him, he hadn't discussed the loan amount or other details with them. More recently, Musk told CNBC in May that Tesla was experiencing a 'major rebound' in demand. A week later an auto trade group in Europe announced sales had plunged by half. Musk has come under fire for allegedly exaggerating the ability of the system used for its cars to drive themselves, starting with the name. Full Self-Driving is a misnomer. The system still requires drivers to keep their eyes on the road because they may need to intervene and take control at any moment. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Federal highway safety regulators opened an investigation into FSD last year after several accidents, and the Department of Justice has conducted its own probe, though the status of that is not known. Tesla has also faced lawsuits over the feature, some resulting in settlements, other dismissed. In one case, a judge ruled against the plaintiffs but only because they hadn't proved Musk 'knowingly' made false statements. Musk says the robotaxis will be running on an improved version of Full Self-Driving and the cabs will be safe. He also says the service will be able to expand rapidly around the country. His secret weapon: Millions of Tesla owners now on the roads. He says an over-the-air software update will soon allow them to turn their cars into driverless cabs and start a side business while stuck at the office for eight hours or on vacation for a week. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Instead of having your car sit in the parking lot, your car could be earning money,' Musk said earlier this year, calling it an Airbnb model for cars. 'You will be able to add or subtract your car to the fleet.' Musk says Tesla also can move fast to deploy taxis now because of his decision to rely only on cameras for the cars to navigate, unlike Waymo, which has gone a more expensive route by supplementing its cameras with lasers and radar. 'Tesla will have, I don't know,' Musk mused in an conference call with investors, '99% market share or something ridiculous.' Given Waymo's head start and potential competition from Amazon and others, dominating the driverless market to that extent could be a reach. But Dan Ives, a Wedbush Securities analyst and big Musk fan, says this time Musk may actually pull it off because of Tesla's ability to scale up quickly. And even skeptics like Morningstar's Goldstein acknowledge that Musk occasionally does gets things right, and spectacularly so. He upended the car industry by getting people to buy expensive electric vehicles, brought his Starlink satellite internet service to rural areas and, more recently, performed a gee-whiz trick of landing an unmanned SpaceX rocket on a platform back on earth. 'Maybe his timelines aren't realistic,' Goldstein says, 'but he can develop futuristic technology products.' Vancouver Canucks Vancouver Canucks Vancouver Canucks News Hockey