Tesla Expands Testing Of ‘Robotaxi’ App

Tesla has begun offering testing its upcoming “Robotaxi” ride-share app with employees in Austin, Texas, as it pushes toward a summer launch of the service.

The company posted a video on social media of a person using their phone to hail a Tesla. The car is seen with a safety driver in the front seat and passengers in the back, but is navigating itself.

The company previously said staff in the San Francisco Bay Area were testing the app, part of an effort to develop and validate features including driver-assistance software and vehicle allocation, Tesla said.

App testing

On an earnings call last week Tesla provided further details of the upcoming Robotaxi service, which is expected to launch with standard Tesla vehicles using safety drivers and eventually shift to a purpose-built two-seater vehicle called Cybercab that has no driving controls.

The vehicle is expected to enter production next year. Users on social media said they had spotted what appeared to be Cybercab castings outside Tesla’s Austin plant.

The initial Robotaxi service will include safety drivers, while Tesla said on the call it eventually plans to use remote supervision for the driverless Cybercab vehicles.

Tesla said the Robotaxi service would start with 10 to 20 Model Y vehicles in Austin before scaling to other cities and vehicle models.

The company announced the Cybercab vehicle and the upcoming Robotaxi service last year, but investors were largely underwhelmed, with Tesla’s shares dropping after the launch.

The company has been developing its own “Robotaxi” app, similar to those used by Uber or Lyft, and has been in talks with the city of Austin about safety expectations for the service.

Industry-watchers have suggested Tesla plans to integrate the Robotaxi service into the main Tesla app, rather than producing a separate application.

‘Robotaxi’ service

Last month Tesla was granted approval in California to begin carrying passengers, beginning with employees before moving to members of the public in company-owned vehicles with safety drivers.

It will need further approvals to give fully autonomous rides.

Meanwhile competitors including Waymo are already operating driverless vehicles on roads in cities including Austin.

Tesla has promised unsupervised full self-driving (FSD) for years, but the feature, despite its name, currently requires continuous driver supervision.