Image: Joe T via X
Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, has confirmed that the company has been testing self-driving Model Ys on the streets of Texas ahead of the company’s official Robotaxi service launch in June.
In an X post, Musk confirmed that the Model Y vehicles have been testing in Austin, Texas, without anyone in the driver’s seat.
This has occurred ahead of the company’s original schedule, which was expected to be around late June.
In a further revelation, Musk has also stated that Tesla’s vehicles will be self-driving from the factory to a customer’s door.
On the back of this post, a fan of Tesla’s upcoming service asked if the service will be open to the public by the end of June, to which Musk replied: “Sure”.
This news comes weeks after it was reported in April that newly produced Model Y and Cybertruck vehicles could drive for over 3 kilometres, right after coming off the production line.
Although those roads around the Austin factory were not opened to the public but still highlighted the intelligence of the full-self-driving software’s growing capabilities to allow Tesla to remove drivers from the car for delivery purposes.
That could also have been part of the testing Tesla needed to do in preparation for the unsupervised service it aims to operate in the streets of Texas next month.
In May, Tesla shocked many by releasing a video of its supervised full self-driving software, which showed a Tesla Model 3 driving on Australian roads without any driver input during its trip.
During that trip, a black Model 3 sedan is seen with a driver entering the destination in Melbourne before the car drives there itself, without any intervention. It even undertook the complex hook turn to turn right on a street with trams on it.
As previously mentioned, Tesla will launch its Robotaxi service first in Austin, Texas in June. That will be followed by a service in California later this year ahead of a bigger rollout in the US in 2026.
The news of Tesla’s Model Y testing without a driver and the upcoming driverless customer deliveries are significant steps in bringing unsupervised, full-self-driving cars to the streets of the US and, on a more global scale, in the near future.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.
BYD says it will build 15,000 of its super fast 1 MW EV chargers, helping…
There has been another sighting of Tesla's upcoming lower cost electric SUV, this time at…
MG's upcoming bigger electric SUV - the MGS6 EV - obtains regulatory approval for sale…
Tesla opens new sites with over a dozen fast chargers showing continued growth of Australia's…
EV makers and utilities are finding ways to help bi-directional charging - or vehicle to…
Tim Eden reviews the Hyundai Inster, Australia’s latest low cost electric car, starting under $40,000.…
View Comments
If the Austin experiment works, Tesla will become much more of a money machine than it already is.
LOL. You'll chomp down any morsel that Elon feeds you.
Everyone can make money now a days very easily.I am a full time college student and just w0rking for 3 to 4 hrs a day. Everybody must try this home online job now by just use ..
.
This Following Website.—–>>> M 𝐨 𝐧 𝐞 𝐲 𝟔 𝟑 . C o m
Piss off scammer
To the streets? How about the countryside, not motorways?
The more capable it is in the most challenging situations, the better it should be for all situations.
Are you included in SEC TSLA (payroll) filings Riz ?.
Gosh - one set of posters keep saying TheDriven is just an Elon-hating, anti-Tesla propaganda outfit. Another set of posters keep saying TheDriven is just an Elon-loving, pro-Tesla propaganda outfit, and the writers must be on the take 🤷♂️
I guess TheDriven is doing a good job if the same articles elicits completely polar opposite opinions.
It depends on the reporter. Riz is a car enthusiast, not a social engineer like some of the others.
Luv ya, Riz! 👍
Ah Texas, where the Gubmint will stay out of the way of business to let them just do what they want… anyway public safety is so “woke” and for pansies.
Except if that business wants to directly sell its EVs to its customers, then the Gubmint has to step in and ban it… 🤦♂️
"1 month ahead of schedule" after 10+ years of promises.