#Musk #Tesla #taxis #fail
"After years of promising investors that millions of Tesla robotaxis would soon fill the streets, Elon Musk debuted his driverless car service in a limited public rollout in Austin, Texas. It did not go smoothly.
The 22 June launch initially appeared successful enough, with a flood of videos from pro-Tesla social media influencers praising the service and sharing footage of their rides. Musk celebrated it as a triumph, and the following day, Tesla’s stock rose nearly 10%.
What quickly became apparent, however, was that the same influencer videos Musk promoted also depicted the self-driving cars appearing to break traffic laws or struggle to properly function. By Tuesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had opened an investigation into the service and requested information from Tesla on the incidents.
If Tesla’s limited rollout of the robotaxi service was the culmination of more than a decade of work, as Musk touted on X, its struggles are also emblematic of technical decisions and fixations that the world’s richest person has embraced as he pursues the goal of a fully autonomous car.
Musk has cast the concept of a driverless car as a core part of the company’s future business, and, as sales have sharply fallen this year, he has vowed that its robotaxi service will rapidly and drastically expand. Yet the faltering launch this week suggests Tesla is still facing technological challenges that have attracted regulators’ notice, delayed Musk’s vision of a robotaxi on every corner, and highlighted the gulf between it and its driverless rival, Waymo."
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/29/elon-musk-tesla-robotaxi