Tesla launches robotaxi service exclusively for employees.

Tesla has recently introduced an autonomous taxi service, currently limited to employees of the company. The service, named “FSD Supervised ride-hailing service” (Full Self-Driving), has been launched for a select group of employees in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area. The company has reported over 1,500 trips and more than 15,000 driving miles completed by the service so far. This initiative serves as a test before the official launch, expected in June this year, as stated by CEO Elon Musk to investors earlier this year.

Testing and Validation of FSD Networks

This initial phase aims to help Tesla develop and validate FSD networks, the mobile app, vehicle allocation, mission control, and remote assistance operations. Although the service is currently supervised, with a human driver present in the front seat monitoring the car’s driving during rides, Tesla has plans to introduce an unsupervised, autonomous robotaxi service in Texas and California by 2025.

Competition in the Autonomous Taxi Market

While Tesla is making progress towards its robotaxi vision, it faces competition from companies like Alphabet’s Waymo and GM’s Cruise, which have been operating driverless, autonomous taxi services in certain regions for several years. These advancements in the autonomous vehicle industry are reshaping the future of transportation, with implications for self-driving cars, Tesla, and the automotive sector as a whole.