In one of the most concrete steps toward officially launching its Robotaxi network, Tesla has now been listed as a “Known AV Operator” on the City of Austin’s website. The listing appeared yesterday and lists Tesla among other autonomous vehicle operators such as Waymo (Google), Zoox (Amazon), and others.
This official addition lends some weight to recent reports that Tesla will launch its employee network on June 12th — just two days away.
This also echoes Musk’s recent comments that the Robotaxi program is running ahead of schedule.
Green Light
This is the first indication that Tesla is moving beyond its internal phases, as Musk has stated that Tesla has already been running vehicles in Austin without anyone in the driver's seat. However, there was a driver in the passenger seat to intervene if needed.
The status on Austin’s site lists Tesla as “Testing,” the same status used for most of the other operators. The only other operators not listed as testing are Motional, which is listed as Mapping, and Waymo, which is listed as ‘Deployment.’ We’ll be sure to keep a close eye on this to see when Tesla’s status changes to deployed.
This addition to Austin’s website is the bureaucratic green light many have been waiting for, confirming that Tesla has been working with local transportation authorities to meet the necessary requirements to be recognized as a permitted AV operator.
Reporting Incidents
The City of Austin’s website also has autonomous vehicles report incidents if a vehicle blocks traffic, has a collision, or even a near miss. The website features a dynamic map, with each incident marked, and it even allows you to filter incidents by year or company. This will be another piece of information to keep an eye on to see how Tesla does in their initial phase.
What to Expect from the Initial Launch
With the official acknowledgment from the city, the focus now shifts to what the initial Robotaxi service will look like. Based on details shared by Elon, the initial rollout is expected to be a measured, deliberate deployment rather than a city-wide free-for-all. That means a small fleet of 10 Model Ys in the first week, which will slowly expand on a week-by-week basis.
Tesla will have human teleoperators on standby at its Giga Texas operations hub to help out if a vehicle gets stuck or has an incident. For the most part, these operators are expected to simply watch and observe, rather than actually taking the reins.
Avoiding Tough Situations
Tesla has also said that it’ll be cautious with its initial routing - complex intersections or difficult edge-case scenarios will be avoided directly within the trip planner, making the route as easy as possible.
With the launch potentially days away, the addition of Tesla to the official list of AV Operators in Austin is a check in the box that all systems are a ‘go’ for Robotaxi.
