Tesla Inc. has expanded its testing of a ride-share app to employees in Austin, as the company pushes toward a June launch of an autonomous version of the service.
The EV maker posted a glimpse of the work on social media site X, with a video showing a person using their phone to hail a Tesla. A driver sits in front as various passengers ride around in the back seat.
“Getting ready for unsupervised self-driving,” posted Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk in response to the video.
The Austin move and previously announced efforts with Tesla employees in the Bay Area are part of testing that will help develop and validate features including the app, driver-assistance software and vehicle allocation, Tesla said on Wednesday. It has done more than 1,500 trips and completed 15,000 miles of driving, according to the post.
The ride-hailing service deploys a suite of features Tesla calls full self-driving, which, despite the name, requires continual driver supervision and doesn’t make its vehicles autonomous. A safety driver is present to intervene as needed, according to a disclaimer on the Tesla video.
Tesla’s plan is to launch a version of the software that, while driverless, will be under remote supervision, executives said Tuesday in a call with investors. That is expected to launch under the Robotaxi name to the public this summer. It’ll start in Austin with 10 to 20 Model Y vehicles before scaling further, with plans to add other cities and vehicle models to the fleet, they said.
While executives didn’t discuss the employee ride-share pilot in Austin, Musk did say that Tesla’s quality assurance fleet was doing testing there. He also joked about the “sheer number of Teslas doing circles in Austin right now,” saying, “it’s going to look pretty bizarre.”
Another focus of the call was Tesla’s slumping sales. The company reported its worst quarter in years, and Musk said he will pull back “significantly” from his work with the US government to refocus on Tesla.
For the ride-hailing service, Tesla plans to eventually use a purpose-built two-seater vehicle called a Cybercab, which has no steering wheel or pedals. The vehicle is expected to undergo large-scale production next year.
Musk has talked for years about Tesla operating a fleet without human drivers. A successful roll-out will be key for both Tesla and Musk himself, as the CEO stakes the EV maker’s future on autonomous technology and robotics.
But the approvals needed for widespread launch could be years away. Meanwhile, a number of competitors, including Waymo LLC, have already deployed driverless cars on public roads in select cities, including Austin.
Tesla has given few details about who will have initial access to the service or how much it will cost. It aims to use a mobile app similar to Uber or Lyft to allow customers to request rides, and first showed screenshots of the platform in an investor presentation about a year ago. The new video shows an app labeled “Robotaxi.”
Tesla has been in talks with the city of Austin about safety expectations as it determined where to first launch driverless fleets.
Last month, it was granted approval in California to begin carrying passengers. It’ll start with employees before expanding to members of the public in company-owned vehicles. The company will need further approvals to give fully autonomous rides.
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