Tesla officially start testing robomobiles in Austin

By Alimat Aliyeva

Tesla has moved to the testing stage of its own self-driving taxi in Austin - just a few days before the expected commercial launch scheduled for June 12.

Company first appeared in the city register of autonomous transport operators with the status of "testing". Unlike Waymo, which conducted tests for a year - first with observer drivers, then without them - Tesla began testing without insured drivers only at the end of May. This raises doubts that the service will be ready for full launch this month.

As previously stated by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the commercial launch of the service is scheduled for June. However, even he admitted that testing of the driverless safety system did not begin until the end of May, so the platform is unlikely to be ready for a full launch. By comparison, Waymo conducted tests with and without observer drivers for a year before opening access to the service in Austin. It is still the only company in the "rollout" phase.

Tesla's move to manage its own fleet of autonomous vehicles marks a change in strategy. Previously, the company promised that millions of cars sold since 2016 with the Full Self-Driving system (FSD) will be able to move independently without driver involvement. Now, Tesla is betting on a limited fleet of cars specially configured for the geofenced territory of Austin and supported by remote control.

For a long time, Tesla avoided formally recognizing its cars as fully self-driving, positioning them as a driver assistance system (ADAS), where a person is required to maintain control. This made it possible to bypass the strict requirements for testing autonomous vehicles, including reporting and licensing.

Nevertheless, in recent months, Tesla cars with drivers in the front seat and factory plates have been regularly spotted around the city, which confirmed that closed tests were being conducted. And now the company has officially appeared on the list of urban operators of unmanned vehicles, which indicates the transition to an open test phase.

The fate of Tesla's commercial launch in Austin will depend on the pace of certification procedures and the results of ongoing testing. Despite Musk's statements, the timing may be revised.