“Robotaxi rides without any safety monitors are now publicly available in Austin. Starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet.”
Tesla finally crossed the threshold from “supervised autonomy” to actual driverless operation, seven months after launching its Austin robotaxi service with safety monitors in the passenger seat. The company is mixing unsupervised vehicles into the broader fleet rather than going all-in at once, which is the cautious play after years of overpromising on Full Self-Driving timelines. Whether this is a genuine technical milestone or just Tesla getting comfortable with its liability exposure remains to be seen.