Tesla and Google's Robotaxis Still Really Aren't That Autonomous
Tesla's impending robotaxi service comes with a whole list of caveats you'll need to agree to before you huddle into the backseat of its autonomous vehicles. Or, perhaps they're not really that autonomous. The first Tesla Model Y Cybercab services will be limited to select participants (including Tesla influencers), but even then drivers can expect to have a 'safety monitor' in the driver's seat. This may be a remote individual making sure the cars don't cause any vehicular snafus, but it also shows just how limited Tesla's initial rollout will be.
As first noted by Electrek, there are a whole heap of other parameters Tesla's self-driving guinea pigs will need to endure. They're restricted to a geofenced area in Austin, Texas, that does not include airports. Drivers can only get a ride between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. The limited areas and times for operation are likely a result of limiting possible run-ins with other drivers and needing the monitor to be awake and aware enough to deal with the car's odd behaviors. A few years before its robotaxi arm went belly up, GM's Cruise caught flak for employing similar remote monitors who were there to help the cars navigate complicated conditions.
Tesla has given me permission to share the parameters of use for their Model Y Robotaxi service, starting this Sunday June 22nd in Austin, Texas. The Early Access phase is invitation-only.
Parameters of Use:
• You must read through and agree to the attached Terms of Service,… pic.twitter.com/RPy5TvUbBg
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 20, 2025
Google's Waymo robotaxi service has been expanding rapidly across the country. In Austin, it employed drivers in Waymo cars for the first six months before letting the vehicles operate independently. New Yorkers who thought they were safe from the autonomous vehicle invasion can't be complacent anymore. Waymo declared this week it intends to bring a fleet of autonomous vehicles to NYC streets, though for full-scale operations it needs to upend the city's traffic laws and somehow figure out how to deal with New York's congested streets and downright hostile drivers.
At first, all Waymo cars will have an actual flesh-and-blood human behind the wheel. That's because the NYC Department of Transportation has to issue a permit for any company looking to operate self-driving cars and sets limits for how they can operate within city limits. Current laws also bar a full-scale autonomous vehicle operation without a 'vehicle operator' present should the car go haywire, but that's where Google's lobbyists come in. Alphabet—the parent company of all the various Google brands like YouTube and Waymo—said it was 'advocating for changes to state law to allow us to bring our fully autonomous ride-hailing service to the city one day.'
The company won't be in New York 'full time,' but the obvious intent is to bring the same level of service currently derided in San Francisco to New York. The Bay Area hit Waymo with close to 600 traffic citations in 2024. The approximately 300 Waymo cars on San Francisco streets are known to occasionally block traffic and park in prohibited areas. While the self-driving ride-hailing company claims it has fixed issues where the cars would hit emergency service vehicles, the cars have become controversial in Angeltown for weird glitches, like several events where an entire parked fleet of Waymos blared their horns for hours into the night. After numerous recalls, Google's robotaxis are supposedly improving constantly, but the lingering question is whether they're getting better fast enough to merit their rapid expansion to cities all over the U.S.
New York rules require companies to 'self-certify' their vehicles are safer than human drivers. If you've ever spent five minutes on the Belt Parkway in south Brooklyn and Queens, you'll understand that's not a high bar to reach. On the flip side, New York's streets are incredibly complicated to navigate. Since last October, it's no longer illegal to jaywalk in NYC, and you'll often see people threading through traffic at or nowhere near a crosswalk. New York City streets are constantly constrained with double-parked cars and construction. Autonomous vehicles do much better on streets without complicated intersections or roadwork. You'd be lucky to make it two blocks in New York without encountering either of those.
Autonomous vehicles won't reduce traffic. These automated car services will only induce demand for more cars. Even if you have qualms about New York's congestion pricing, it's proved the only thing to reduce traffic congestion in one of the most constrained cities in the world. As noted by urban planning advocate group Strong Towns, the only two things that governments can adjust to reduce congestion are the amount it costs to drive and the time the trip takes. Transit advocates have close to a century of data that proves adding more lanes to roads—even those specific for autonomous cars—merely induces demand for more cars.
Waymo's real objective is to put as many Waymos on city streets as possible. All that does is replace today's pugnacious NYC driver with an idiotic computer that may get confused by a single traffic cone. If New York opens its doors to one autonomous car maker, others like Tesla would be sure to follow.
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