Elon Musk says Tesla taking safety supervisors out of some Robotaxi vehicles in Austin

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, announced on Thursday that the company has begun operating a limited number of its Robotaxi vehicles in Austin, Texas, without the presence of human drivers or safety supervisors. In a post on X, Musk expressed excitement, stating, "Just started Tesla Robotaxi drives in Austin with no safety monitor in the car. Congrats to the @Tesla_AI team!" Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's vice president of software, elaborated that this initiative includes a mix of unsupervised vehicles alongside those with safety monitors. He indicated that the proportion of driverless vehicles is expected to grow over time in this market. Following the announcement, Tesla's stock experienced a 4.2% increase, closing at $449.36. Despite this progress, Tesla trails behind several companies already providing commercial robotaxi services without human oversight. Alphabet's Waymo currently leads the U.S. market, while Baidu's Apollo Go holds a significant position in China, with other competitors like Amazon's Zoox starting to roll out limited driverless services. Musk had previously predicted that Tesla would achieve "autonomous ride hailing in probably half the population of the U.S. by the end of the year," although the company appears to be falling short of that target. Nonetheless, the rollout of the Robotaxi ride-hailing app and initial services in Austin and the San Francisco Bay area have generated considerable enthusiasm. In Texas, Tesla has secured a permit to operate as a transportation networking company, facilitating the use of automated driving systems. However, in California, the company has yet to obtain the necessary permits to conduct driverless tests or operate robotaxi services without a human at the controls. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Musk asserted, "I think self-driving cars is essentially a solved problem at this point," predicting that the Robotaxi service will become widespread across the U.S. by the year's end. Musk is known for setting ambitious timelines that often go unmet; he previously claimed in 2019 that Tesla would convert its existing vehicles into robotaxis through a software update by the end of the following year. As Tesla faces declining electric vehicle sales, the company’s ability to sustain investor interest may depend on successfully scaling its driverless ride-hailing service this year and transitioning to a fully automated driving system. Currently, its advanced system is marketed as FSD (Supervised), with plans to introduce an FSD Unsupervised version in the future. Despite the enthusiasm, surveys by the Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report indicated that a majority of U.S. consumers expressed reluctance to ride in robotaxis, mainly due to safety concerns. Analysts from Deutsche Bank recently noted that they expect "muted underlying volume growth" for Tesla and rival EV maker Rivian this year, emphasizing the need for Tesla to validate its FSD unsupervised system and expand its robotaxi services, which have been lagging behind schedule. Tesla has not responded to requests for comments regarding these developments. Last year, California regulators accused Tesla of deceptive marketing related to its vehicles' driverless capabilities, while the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is currently investigating the frequency of traffic safety violations associated with Tesla's FSD systems. According to data from TeslaDeaths.com, 65 fatalities have been linked to Tesla crashes involving Autopilot, including incidents where the FSD systems were active just before collisions. Tesla is set to announce its fourth-quarter results on Wednesday.