The entire world witnessed a monumental feat achieved by Tesla yesterday as the American electric car manufacturer officially launched the Robotaxi. Finally the Tesla CEO, Elon Musk’s ambitious vision was brought to life. The Robotaxi is the first commercial project that features the company’s pioneering and highly revolutionary fully autonomous driving technology.
Also called full self driving (FSD), this technology has been in development for almost a decade and has seen numerous delays. The Robotaxi project is a ride-hailing fleet of EVs based on Model Y that implements Tesla’s FSD tech. Previously called Cybercab, Tesla rolled out the Robotaxi project with a fleet of 10-20 cars in Austin, Texas this Sunday.
Tesla Robotaxi first reactions
On this occasion, Tesla invited a handful of influencers, mostly pro-Tesla, to test out this service. And their first reactions have gone viral on the internet. However, this raises questions about how unbiased these first critical reactions will be. Tesla hasn’t revealed when the Robotaxi service will be available to the general public. Here are some notable reactions from the Robotaxi launch in Austin.
Several invitees livestreamed themselves summoning their first cars, interacting with the UI, and then arriving at their destination. Several videos lasted hours, as the invitees would conclude a trip and then hail another car immediately after. One tester, Bearded Tesla Guy, described the app’s interface as “basically Uber.” Many had some difficulty finding the pickup location of their waiting Tesla robotaxi.
Social media is buzzing with reactions from influencers. Many invitees livestreamed the entire experience — from summoning their first cars and interacting with the user interface to arriving at their destinations. Some videos ran for hours, with participants finishing one ride and promptly requesting another.
“This is like Pokemon hunting,” one person on Herbert Ong’s livestream said, “but it’s robotaxi hunting.” One tester, Bearded Tesla Guy, described the app’s interface as “basically Uber.” Many had some difficulty finding the pickup location of their waiting Tesla robotaxi. Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla’s self-driving team, shared a photo showing dozens of people gathered in a room lined with 10 large monitors displaying live camera feeds from multiple vehicles. “Robotaxi launch party,” Elluswamy captioned the post.
On the other hand, Dan O’Dowd, Green Hills Software CEO, has called it a “pathetic flop”. In his tweet, Dan O’Dowd listed his findings from the Dawn Project about “Tesla’s Supervised Robotaxi” where a few experts have shared their opinions on the same.
All influencers who have taken rides so far have accessed the service through their Tesla accounts, automatically syncing their personal media preferences with the vehicle. For instance, their Spotify profiles connected seamlessly, enabling them to play their favorite music during the ride.
During the testing phase, each ride costs $4.20 (approximately ₹362) — a price that likely nods to Musk’s frequent marijuana-related references incorporated into his products. The fare is expected to increase once the service scales up. Musk has also expressed interest in launching the robotaxi service in California, though regulatory hurdles there are significantly more complex compared to Texas.
While he has stated a desire to proceed cautiously, Musk has simultaneously claimed that Tesla could have over a thousand driverless vehicles operating “within a few months.”
