Tesla hopes to expand Robotaxi operation to California in coming months

Last month, Tesla invited users to experience its driverless ride-hailing cars on public roads in Austin, Texas, in an initial trial with pricing of each trip costing $US4.20.

Since then, the invitation list has grown with hundreds of driverless rides in Tesla’s Robotaxi being taken by invited riders in a geo-fenced area of the city of Austin.

Now, the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, has said that the Austin service area will be expanded this weekend.

Tesla Owners Silicon Valley then asked when the potential expansion into the bay area of Silicon Valley was expected on Tesla’s roadmap.

Musk responded with a timeline of one to two months as Tesla is currently awaiting regulatory approval in the state of California. 

This is in line with previous reports that the service will start in Texas, before expansion into California by the end of this year.

What did come as a surprise is Tesla’s progress in the state of Arizona, where EV news X account run by Sawyer Merritt was able to receive a response from the state’s Department of Transportation on the state of Tesla’s Robotaxi approvals there.

The department replied to Merritt’s request for information with a status update hinting at potential expansion into the city of Phoenix: “Tesla has applied for both autonomous vehicle testing/operating with a driver and testing/operating without a driver. A decision on those is expected at the end of the month. They have expressed interest in operating within the Phoenix Metro area.”

In recent weeks, Tesla has amped up its full-self driving efforts with the official launch of the Robotaxi services. That has been a major milestone in the company’s roadmap to roll out fully autonomous vehicles using its self-developed FSD software.

Then last week, a self-driving Tesla was delivered from its factory in Austin, Texas, to a customer’s house, without anyone in the car.

During that trip, a Tesla Model Y drove itself along highways and suburban streets to reach its new owner’s home, which was located about 30 minutes away.

These updates into the company’s Robotaxi expansion come 9 months since the We, Robot event, where the next generation Robotaxi, the Cybercab, was showcased at Warner Brothers studios in California.

It sets the stage for the company’s rapid expansion into multiple states in the US ahead of a broader global rollout in the coming years. It should be an interesting one to observe as it provides a roadmap for the future of road transportation.