{{ In the coming weeks, we expect Tesla to then rid these vehicles of the Safety Monitors as Musk predicted. If it can come through on that by the end of the year, the six-month period where Tesla went from launching Robotaxi to enabling driverless rides is incredibly impressive.
intercst
I’ve heard this “coming soon” story from Musk so many times that I no longer believe it.
Wake me up when it actually happens.
Don’t forget that Texas has virtually no regulation on Robotaxis. If Elon is will to assume the legal risk, I don’t doubt that the Texas politicians he’s bought and paid for will approve Robotaxi operations.
intercst
It won’t be nothing, but the robotaxi was announced in Masterplan Part Deux, which I believe was in 2016. So it isn’t like they just started working on this. Waymo was doing this five years ago.
They didn’t use to. But in September the legislature passed a bill requiring robotaxi companies to obtain a Fully Driverless Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Permit from Texas DMV. The DMV has not yet promulgated the rules which are expected in the spring. As far as I can tell, Waymo is grandfathered under the old rules until the new rules are promulgated. But I’m not entirely clear on that.
Presumably Tesla could do the same thing. But there is some real business risk to Tesla. If one of their robotaxis kills somebody nobody will want to get in one. So I don’t think they will rush it before they are ready.
That’s true, but Waymo’s robotaxi solution is much more expensive than Tesla’s. I believe the Waymo vehicle is about $200,000 vs. $50,000 or less for a Model Y. Elon’s “cameras only” roadmap is cheaper to scale.
intercst
I think the end game for Waymo isn’t so much ride hailing, but licensing the tech to manufacturers. Tesla has said they are interested in licensing their tech as well.
But it has to work first. I heard an interview with one of the Waymo CEOs that their tech works vision only, but it isn’t safe enough. That’s where Tesla apparently is right now. It is good, but not good enough. Tesla hasn’t started applying for AV ride hailing permits in California yet. The only explanation is that they aren’t ready.
The next gen Waymo vehicle is being produced by Hyundai in Alabama, prefitted for sensor installation. That should lower the costs a lot. Sensors in general are cheaper, 5G is better, so on.