Tesla driverless robotaxi spotted in Austin for the first time, but with trailing car
Tesla’s driverless robotaxi has been spotted in Austin for the first time, but it is being followed by a trailing car with a driver.
CEO Elon Musk now says that Tesla aims to “tentatively” start its service on June 22.
Tesla now plans to operate its own small internal fleet of vehicles with dedicated software optimized for a geo-fenced area of Austin and supported by “plenty of teleoperation.”
The company has been discussing the launch of its paid service in June, but as we reported, it only officially began the “testing” phase earlier this week, according to Austin’s official website.
Musk admitted that Tesla only started testing the system without safety drivers at the end of May.
In comparison, Waymo tested its system, which was already in operation driverless in other cities, for 6 months with safety drivers and 6 months without safety drivers before launching its service in Austin earlier this year.
Now, a Tesla Model Y without a driver was spotted in Austin for the first time:
From the video, we can see that a second Tesla vehicle is trailing the driverless vehicle, likely with a remote teleoperator ready to take control or activate a kill switch.
As we previously reported, Tesla has been building a team of teleoperators to remotely control its vehicles when needed.
Just this week, days before the planned launch of the service, Tesla has posted a new job listing for engineers to build a teleoperation system with as low latency as possible.
Having a trailing car can address the latency problem.
After sharing the video above, Musk highlighted that these are unmodified Model Ys, like the ones that Tesla delivers to customers. This prompted someone to ask when Tesla plans to deliver unsupervised self-driving to customers, as he promised every Tesla vehicle produced since 2016 would be capable of doing.
Musk didn’t confirm it, but he said that the custom software running on those vehicles have about 4 times more parameters than the current version (FSD v13) in customers vehicles and he could see that being deployed in the customer fleet later this year:
It’s a new version of software, but will merge to main branch soon. We have a more advanced model in alpha stage that has ~4X the params, but still requires a lot of polishing. That’s probably ready for deploy in a few months.
As we previously reported, this fleet deployment in Austin is quite a moving of the goal post for Tesla, which has been promising unsupervised self-driving in all vehicles since 2016.
This service is only going to work in a geo-fenced area where Tesla is optimizing its FSD software to perform better, and it is supported by teleoperation, something that can’t be scaled to the customer fleet.
Electrek’s Take
I don’t know why Musk wants to emphasize that Tesla is using the same vehicles it delivers to customers as if it’s a giant advantage over Waymo.
We know that Tesla’s hardware approach is much cheaper than Waymo. That’s not new. The real question has always been about safety and performance.
I can see this program eventually helping FSD progress, but as you can see, Musk is not stating that unsupervised self-driving in customer vehicles will be achieved when the new customer version of FSD, which comes out of this custom software, reaches the market.
Even if this 10x the miles between disengagement in the current version, which would be impressive, Tesla would still only be at about 5,000 miles. That’s behind the competition and nowhere near what’s needed for level 4 unsupervised self-driving.
At this point, I expect Tesla to start admitting that HW4 will not support unsupervised self-driving in customer vehicles by the end of 2026.
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On today’s battle-ready episode of Quick Charge, it’s Elon Musk vs. the world as big players position themselves for control of enough lithium to build 600 million electric cars and the rest of the industry squares up to Tesla in the battle for market leadership.
While Windrose is making sales and expanding into new markets, the Tesla Semi is still in limited tests, Robotaxi launches as a “ride hailing service” in California with randos in the drivers’ seat and Academy Award nominated actor/noted college football analyst Timothée Chalamet teams up with Lucid to steal (even more) sales from the embattled Model S and X lines.
Today’s episode is brought to you by Retrospec, the makers of sleek, powerful e-bikes and outdoor gear built for everyday adventure. Quick Charge listeners can get 10% off their next e-bike ride through August 14 with the exclusive code ELECTREK10 only at retrospec.com.
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EV charging company ezVOLTz has partnered with Driivz, the EV software arm of Vontier, to make its “Charging as a Service” platform even smarter and more reliable for fleets, businesses, and state and local governments across the US.
If you’re not familiar with ezVOLTz, it’s a full-service EV charging provider. It handles everything, from installing hardware-agnostic chargers to managing the backend with its software platform, ezCONNECT. Now, ezVOLTz is plugging into Driivz’s charging and energy management tech to help run things even more smoothly.
With Driivz’s help, ezVOLTz plans to keep its network humming with 24/7 monitoring and real-time issue detection. Driivz’s Alert Management System can auto-fix up to 80% of charger hiccups remotely without sending a tech on-site. That means more uptime and fewer headaches for drivers and site owners.
“EV adoption is surging, and drivers and the companies and entities that serve them need smart, connected, and reliable charging options,” said ezVOLTz CEO Sam Malhotra. “The Driivz team and their smart charging and energy management solutions are a natural fit in bolstering our services.”
The partnership also gives ezVOLTz new tools to grow its network. Driivz’s software tracks usage patterns and charger performance, helping pinpoint the best spots for new installations. Driivz will also support the ezVOLTz app, letting users plan road trips and find chargers nationwide.
“Reliability and ease-of-use are two of the most important considerations for EV drivers,” said Andrew Bennett, CEO of Driivz. “We’re proud to partner with ezVOLTz in delivering seamless and reliable charging to their customers.”
As more businesses, fleets, and municipalities plug into EVs, partnerships like this one aim to make sure the charging experience keeps up.
Read more: Driivz expands in the US EV charging market with a new HQ
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The Subaru BRZ may live on as an EV after all. Subaru wants its share of the sports car market, and an electric BRZ could hit the sweet spot.
Is Subaru launching an electric BRZ?
Subaru discontinued the BRZ in Europe in 2020 after the first generation. Although its twin, the Toyota GR86, was sold until the 2024 model year, the BRZ was released as a US-only model.
In its third generation, it could return as an EV. Speaking with Autocar, Subaru’s European head, David Dello Stritto, said, “Our options are open,” hinting that the BRZ could make a comeback in electric form.
Subaru’s global EV product boss, Inoue Masahiko, confirmed an electric version of the sports car “was under consideration.” He added that Subaru has extensively looked into an EV version of the BRZ with its partner, Toyota.
Masahiko explained that “We did consider electrifying the BRZ and GR86, but the win-win relationship is more important.” So far, “We can’t get the kind of benefits from both sides,” he added.
Subaru is already launching several new electric vehicles in Europe, including the new Uncharted, E-Outback (known as Trailseeker in the US), and an updated Solterra SUV.
Stritto said that an electric sports car will depend on the success of these models first, especially the Uncharted. According to Subaru’s European boss, the Japanese automaker feels “very positively about Subaru enthusiasts, but we need to see how Uncharted does first.”
As for an “electrified” powertrain, or hybrid, Masahiko said the vehicle’s packaging “would make it difficult,” adding an EV version would be “easier” to create.
The comments come after Stritto told Autocar last week that a new entry-level EV could also be in the works. However, that will also depend on how well the Uncharted sells.
For those in the US, don’t worry – Subaru is not planning to discontinue the BRZ. If it did launch as an EV, would you consider one? It would go up against the new Hyundai IONIQ 6 N and Tesla Model 3 Performance.
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