During the Tesla Q3 earnings call, CEO Elon Musk revealed that, within the next few months, the company’s robotaxi service could begin operating without the safety monitors that currently ride in the front seat of all the autonomous vehicles’ trips.
This move would make the vehicles fully driverless, which was one of the goals of the service from the very beginning, according to Musk.
The robotaxi service, which launched in June in Austin, launched with 10 to 20 cars, but has now expanded to be somewhere in the realm of 30 cars, according to a report from the Austin American-Statesman. The report also says that the service covers 173 square miles in the Austin area.
During the call, Musk said that robotaxi is looking to launch in other markets before the end of 2025.
“We do expect to be operating robotaxi in, I think, about eight to ten metro areas by the end of the year. It depends on various regulatory approvals,” Musk said. “We expect to be operating in Nevada, Florida and Arizona by the end of the year.”
Though Musk’s initial goal was to serve 50% of the U.S. population with robotaxi, he says that they’re taking a cautious approach with deployment.
“Even one accident will be front-page headline news worldwide. It’s better for us to take a cautious approach here,” Musk said.
The Statesman story, which I found in the CityCast Austin newsletter, is paywalled, so this is what I know. You can add this prediction of full-self-driving-ness to the collection. Elmo did leave himself some wiggle room – “could” begin operating without the safety monitors – so maybe he’s reeling it in a little. We’ll check back sometime next year and see.