At Tesla’s quarterly earnings call, Elon Musk emphasized that the company still hopes to launch self-driving taxis in Texas in June. That same day, a video was posted on the social media site X showing the vehicles being tested. They have already clocked up 15,000 miles, according to Tesla.
Image source: X, Tesla
As is known, Tesla conducts tests with the mandatory presence of a backup driver behind the wheel, and under the video with a quick demonstration of the testing process, it notes that the FSD software does not make the electric car fully automatic. The proprietary application at this stage allows selected Tesla employees to call a prototype of a driverless taxi, which is currently a Model 3, the rear display of which displays the necessary information for the passenger and virtual control buttons. There will also be an emergency stop button there when Tesla refuses the presence of a driver in the cabin. However, in the same California, the company has not yet received permission to test driverless taxis without a driver. In addition to Texas, tests with a driver are carried out in the San Francisco Bay area.
Tesla notes that it has already completed more than 1,500 trips and its prototypes have traveled a total of 24,000 km. Elon Musk promised that 10 to 20 cars will be used at the launch of the service in June this year in Texas. The presence of a driver behind the wheel and the ability to charge passengers by that time will be determined by the company’s availability of the relevant permits, as well as the company’s confidence in the readiness of the software for such a control mode. Remote control mechanisms with the help of an operator will be provided in any case, since the current test trips with a driver help to develop and improve them, as can be judged from the company’s statements. In addition, the humanoid Optimus robots at the “We, robot” presentation were also controlled by remote operators, so Tesla certainly has experience with such demonstrations.