Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Tuesday that the company will begin testing its long-promised robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, as planned at the end of June, despite safety concerns the company faces from U.S. regulators.
In an interview with CNBC, Musk said the electric carmaker would roll out about 10 self-driving vehicles in parts of the city and expand to about 1,000 vehicles in a few months.
“We’re not actually going to be deploying to the entire Austin area, we’re just going to be deploying to the most secure parts.”
Tesla’s sales have fallen globally as competition intensifies and Musk faces backlash for his right-wing political views and his work for U.S. President Donald Trump.
Musk said he would work less for Trump and focus on Tesla. “My rough plan for the White House is to go to the White House a few days every few weeks and help where I can,” he said.
A successful robotaxi trial is critical for Tesla as Musk shifts the company’s focus from building a new, cheaper electric car platform to launching a robotaxi service and its Optimus humanoid robot. Tesla’s valuation depends largely on this bet.
“In the long run, the only thing that matters is autonomy and Optimus Prime,” Musk told CNBC.
Self-driving car technology has been difficult to commercialize, with strict regulations and huge investments forcing many companies to give up. Those still in the race, including Alphabet Inc’s Waymo, face increasing scrutiny.
NHTSA has been investigating crashes involving Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) advanced driver assistance software in low road visibility since October. U.S. road safety regulators last week asked Tesla to answer questions about the rollout of its paid robotaxi service to assess how the cars perform in bad weather.
Musk said Tesla is in talks with major automakers to license FSD software, which is expected to power its robotaxis.
To support his broader vision for artificial intelligence, Musk’s xAI startup has been increasing its data center capacity to train more advanced models, with its “Colossus” supercomputer cluster in Memphis, Tennessee, billed as the world’s largest.
Musk said xAI will deploy 1 million of Nvidia’s advanced Blackwell chips at a new factory near Memphis. “As long as Nvidia makes better products than we do, we will continue to buy from Nvidia,” he said. The Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce said in March that xAI purchased a 1 million square foot property in southwest Memphis, Tennessee.
Musk, who merged xAI with his social media platform
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