Musk Makes Another Wild Assertion Regarding Robotaxi Service | Carscoops

      The world's wealthiest individual continues to promote Tesla's driver assistance technologies, just as he has done for the past ten years.

      Tesla only recently launched its Robotaxi service within a designated area of Austin, Texas. Elon Musk now asserts that soon half of the U.S. population will have access to Robotaxis. The CEO has also stated that Tesla owners will have Full Self-Driving (FSD) capabilities unsupervised by the end of this year.

      In June, Tesla rolled out its long-anticipated Robotaxi service in a geo-fenced zone of Austin, Texas, with plans to extend the service to the San Francisco Bay Area, pending approval from local officials. Meanwhile, Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, has made an audacious claim about the rapid expansion potential of the Robotaxi service.

      While speaking during Tesla's quarterly earnings call, Musk asserted that "half of the U.S. population will be served by Tesla's Robotaxi by the year's end." Considering that we are already nearing the end of July and the service is currently limited to just a part of one city, this appears to be yet another exaggerated claim from the world’s richest man that may not come to fruition.

      Safety Measures Remain

      At present, all Robotaxis operating in Austin are believed to be equipped with a concealed kill switch that can promptly disable the Full Self-Driving system. Each vehicle has a Tesla employee in the passenger seat with their finger on the door opening button, leading to speculation that this button has been adapted as a rapid override mechanism.

      Tesla's Robotaxis have been observed encountering difficulties with real-world driving conditions in Texas. Numerous videos have documented the vehicles making significant errors on the road, raising concerns about the feasibility of quickly scaling the system to other regions of the country within the next five months.

      Ambitious Expansion Plans

      This is not the only bold claim Musk has made regarding the company’s self-driving technologies, as reported by The Verge. During the same earnings call, Musk forecasted that by the end of 2025, Tesla customers would be able to update their vehicles to utilize FSD without supervision. Alongside plans for expansion into California, Musk also mentioned Florida, Nevada, and Arizona as additional states where Tesla aims to introduce its Robotaxi service.

      While Tesla can continue testing and refining its driver assistance technologies, it has limited ability to accelerate the necessary state regulatory approvals for expanding the service nationwide. Therefore, unless you reside near a large urban area, don’t expect to be able to hail a self-driving Tesla taxi anytime soon.