Tesla’s Robotaxi service has taken to the streets of Houston. In a brief statement Saturday, April 18 on its X social media account, Tesla Robotaxi says the autonomous rideshare service just launched in Texas’ two biggest metro areas — Houston and Dallas.
“Try Tesla Robotaxi in Dallas & Houston!” Tesla CEO Elon Musk says in a reposting on X of the Robotaxi announcement.
One of Robotaxi’s competitors, Alphabet-owned Waymo, beat the Tesla service to the Dallas, Houston, and Austin markets. Another competitor, Amazon-owned Zoox, has Dallas flagged for its autonomous rideshare service.
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Of the three rides logged in a 31-square-mile area in Dallas as of Monday morning, the average fare was $7.96 and the average trip was 3.5 miles, according to an online tracker of autonomous rideshare services. The tracker showed only one Robotaxi was on the roads in Dallas.
As of Monday morning, a 25-square-mile area in Houston had two Robotaxis on the road, according to the online tracker. The average fare for five recorded rides was $11.34 and the average trip was six miles.
“We want Robotaxi pricing to be simple and easy for you to understand,” according to the Robotaxi website. “Initially, as part of our introductory program, we will charge a simple, affordable rate plus applicable taxes and fees for all rides within the available service area.”
The tracker shows the Robotaxi in Dallas did not have a human aboard to monitor each trip, and only one of Houston’s two Robotaxis did not have a human monitor in the driver’s seat.
For now, all passengers ride in Tesla Model Y cars. Robotaxi operates from 6 am-2 am daily.
You can see a map of the current service areas in Houston and Dallas here. The Houston one is quite curious, as it doesn’t seem to incorporate any obvious destinations. I assume they have their reasons. The Dallas map looks a lot more robust to me. Anyway, Tesla has been promising service in Houston for a few months, and as noted Waymo was here first. I’m not inclined to take one of these in any event, and I’m super not inclined to do anything to put money in Elmo’s pocket, but you do you.
As it happens, the day after that story came out, this happened.
Self-driving taxi company Waymo is temporarily suspending services in San Antonio after one of its robo-vehicles was swept away in Monday’s floodwaters, News 4 SA reports.
The unoccupied vehicle was swept away after it entered a flooded road, the station reports, citing company officials. Some parts of San Antonio experienced more than 6 inches of rainfall in a 24-hour period, according to the National Weather Service.
Waymo officials said they’re working with local authorities to recover the automobile. Meanwhile, the automated vehicles will be taken off the streets — and during Fiesta no less.
“Safety is our highest priority at Waymo, both for people who choose to ride with us and those with whom we share the streets,” a Waymo spokesperson said in a statement provided to the NBC affiliate. “As a result of the flooding in San Antonio, we temporarily paused our local operations and are continuing to monitor road conditions.”
Yikes. It’s probably not as well known for it as we are, but San Antonio can flood pretty dramatically, too. It’s a very good thing that this car didn’t have anyone in it, but the fact that this happened really ought to usher in a sweeping regulatory review, to make sure that all of these vehicles, regardless of the maker, have multiple systems in them to ensure that they take proper precautions when flood conditions exist. Bad things can still happen, but we need to know that the risks are being properly minimized. I suppose that would fall to TxDOT here, but this isn’t just a Texas issue. I hope it won’t take a tragedy for this to get the attention it demands.
Is the Waymo flood failure only going to lead to suspending operations in San Antonio? Yikes. It rains here, too.
Meanwhile, one of the new ones in Austin (Zoox?) is visibly not up to snuff. The ones I am seeing are obviously slower to make decisions than their competitors. So, you know it feels great to share the road with robots that aren’t finished with their programming yet.