Tesla Robotaxi Service Begins Texas Trial Operation, Marking a Key Step Towards Autonomous Driving Commercialization

BlockBeats News, June 23rd, according to Reuters, the public beta testing of Tesla's Robotaxi started yesterday in the South Congress Avenue area of Austin, Texas, USA. Initially, 10 Model Y vehicles were deployed, with the driver's seat empty but equipped with a remote safety operator in the background. Although the safety operator does not have traditional driving controls, they can intervene in the vehicle when necessary through devices such as an emergency stop button. Additionally, the vehicles are equipped with biometric sensors inside to monitor passengers' sudden health issues in real-time and automatically alert authorities. This beta testing is limited to invited users in a strictly defined service area, with a flat rate of $4.2 per ride.

The Robotaxi in testing utilizes a pure vision approach, relying only on an 8-camera system. Musk mentioned in a tweet on Twitter, "The pure vision approach costs less than a third of the competition. This is the result of a decade of hard work, with the AI chip and software team entirely developed in-house at Tesla." It is reported that Tesla's autonomous driving business accounts for over 60% of its trillion-dollar market valuation.