Tesla ( TSLA ) CEO Elon Musk said the company has launched self-driving taxis in Austin without safety monitors, a long-awaited move. Previously, Waymo announced that it was once again expanding its robot taxi service in the United States, temporarily solidifying its leading position in the field of autonomous driving.
Musk also claimed on Thursday that he expected the company’s self-driving service to receive approval from the European Union and China soon.
Affected by this news, Tesla’s stock price rose more than 3% in midday trading.
In a post on X.com, Musk said Tesla “launched a Tesla Robotaxi ride in Austin with no safety monitors in the car. Congratulations to the Tesla AI team!” The post was in response to a video posted on
Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s head of artificial intelligence, added on X.com that the service “will start with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed with a broader fleet of robotaxis with safety monitors that will increase over time.”
Earlier Thursday, Alphabet’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Waymo said on its company blog that it is now operating in the Miami area and inviting the first public riders in the city. “Nearly 10,000 residents have signed up and we will invite new passengers on a rolling basis to ensure a seamless experience within our initial 60 square mile service area.”
Waymo says rides to Miami International Airport are coming soon.
Prior to the Miami announcement, Waymo was operating in five major U.S. markets, with Austin, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Phoenix and greater San Francisco part of its service area.
This year, Waymo has an ambitious plan to target Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Orlando, San Antonio, San Diego, Washington, D.C., and Nashville for public service.
It also has plans for densely populated cities and is currently being tested in New York, Tokyo and London.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s self-driving and robotaxi services have lagged. In Davos, Musk claimed that the company’s FSD (fully self-driving) self-driving service is a regulated product, meaning users must be careful when using it, and will soon be coming to Europe and China.
“We’re hoping to get approval for supervised fully autonomous driving in Europe next month, and then potentially similar approval in China,” Musk said.
Although Waymo is currently only conducting international testing in the above-mentioned cities, its service is Level 4 autonomous driving, which is fully autonomous driving in certain geographical areas. Tesla’s FSD is considered Level 2.
Tesla’s robotaxis, currently operating in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area, have grown in numbers, but not by much. Robotaxis will still require a safety driver per vehicle as it remains a supervised service. A new video shared by Musk suggests the company has been given permission to operate in Austin without safety drivers, but the CEO wouldn’t say whether that’s true.
