Musk says Tesla launching robotaxis today in Austin

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Musk says Tesla launching robotaxis today in Austin

Norihiko Shirouzu and Abhirup Roy
Sun, June 22, 2025 at 4:03 AM AST 4 min read

AUSTIN (Reuters) -After driverless Tesla Model Ys were spotted traversing Austin, Texas streets on Sunday morning, CEO Elon Musk posted on his social platform X that Tesla's "robotaxi launch" would start this afternoon with rides for a flat fee of $4.20.

A Reuters witness saw several Tesla "robotaxis" on Sunday morning in a popular area of the Texas capital called South Congress with no one in the driver's seat but one person in the passenger seat.

Tesla planned to have front-seat riders acting as "safety monitors," though it remained unclear how much control they would have over the vehicles. Videos of driverless Teslas have also been posted on social media but it was not known if the vehicles carried any passengers.

As the date of the planned robotaxi launch approached, Texas lawmakers moved to enact rules on autonomous vehicles in the state. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, on Friday signed legislation requiring a state permit to operate self-driving vehicles.

-snip-

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-tiptoes-long-promised-robotaxi-080320575.html

[sop]

1. "Tesla planned to have front-seat riders acting as 'safety monitors.'"

This is a joke, right?

[Walleye]

2. Just what we need, self-driving cars

But according to Elon, we don’t need Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. Self driving cars will make everything OK. priorities people!

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Self-driving cars and AI promise* big payoffs to investors, social saftey nets only preserve society.

Gotta check those priorities.





*You know what a "promise" means in the realm of venture capitalism, of course.

[Drum]

4. 420

[SleeplessinSoCal]

5. Why robotaxis?

"As Tesla fans celebrate the launch of the company’s robotaxi concept in Austin, another major automaker has quietly stepped into the spotlight. Volkswagen Group has officially launched the production-ready version of its ID. Buzz AD driverless taxi. ..."

https://interestingengineering.com/photo-story/volkswagens-new-robotaxi-ready-for-roads

AI is putting many out of work. And now one reliable job for those recently let go from theirs is disappearing thanks to the techbros.

😒

[Eugene]

6. The robotaxi scheme is the next shiny object to keep investors from wondering where the previous object went.

The previous Next Big Thing coming was the mass market consumer EV, which is has apparently been shelved.

Who doesn't want a car that can earn revenue for it's owner while they aren't using it? Just don't think the practical issues through. Believe and Elon will take Tesla to the moon!

[SleeplessinSoCal]

7. Mass market consumer EV, PLEASE!!

That is something we actually need.