Tesla released robotaxis without steering wheels or pedals onto the streets. Will people dare to ride in them?
Trying to catch up with competitors in the autonomous taxi market, Elon Musk took a step that few have dared to take so far. For Tesla, this could become one of the most important experiments in recent years.
The past few years have been challenging for Elon Musk's automotive business. Tesla's sales fell for the second consecutive year last year, the company's profit dropped, and its leadership in the global electric vehicle market shifted to China's BYD.
Therefore, Musk increasingly connects Tesla's future not only with selling electric vehicles. One of the company's main bets has been on cars capable of independently transporting passengers.
Tesla's autonomous taxi service has been operating in Austin, Texas, since June of last year, and later appeared in five more cities in Texas and Florida. Initially, safety drivers were present in the cars, ready to take over control in case of problems. Now, some robotaxis already operate without them.
According to RobotaxiTracker, Tesla has more than 200 such vehicles. This, however, is significantly less than its main competitor — Waymo, a company belonging to the same corporation as Google. Waymo has over 4000 autonomous taxis in 14 cities.
Until now, however, even Tesla robotaxis without a safety driver remained cars with conventional controls — a steering wheel and pedals. Now Musk has decided to abandon them too.
As reported by The Associated Press, on Thursday Tesla released dozens of Cybercabs — autonomous taxis with no steering wheel or pedals — onto the streets of Austin. If something goes wrong, the passenger will physically not be able to take over control.
No steering wheel, no pedals
"No steering wheel, no pedals," announced the launch of the new cars on the Tesla Robotaxi account on X. Musk himself posted an image of a gigantic Cybercab over Austin, and later wrote: "A storm of Cybercabs."
A Storm of Cybercabs
It is not yet clear how quickly Tesla intends to roll out the new service. But, as AP notes, Musk needs to hurry: his company significantly lags behind Waymo in terms of vehicle numbers and rides.
The technical approach of the competitors also differs. Tesla relies on cameras: it is with their help that the car must recognize the road, other cars, and pedestrians. Waymo and another competitor, Amazon's Zoox, in addition to cameras, use radars and lidars, which determine the distance to surrounding objects using lasers.
Tesla now needs to prove that its system is capable of safely navigating complex urban traffic without such additional equipment.
But will people want to get into a car without a steering wheel?
Even if the technology works flawlessly, there remains another problem — passenger trust.
A Pew Research Center survey conducted in February showed that seven out of ten adult Americans would feel uncomfortable in an autonomous vehicle. Only 7% said they would feel very or extremely comfortable in such a car, and another 16% felt somewhat comfortable.
BREAKING: Tesla has officially started offering Cybercab rides to the public.
I’ve been waiting years to say that!
I took one of the world's first public rides. The cabin is comfortable and spacious, the suspension is soft, and FSD is VERY smooth. It’s an incredible vehicle.… pic.twitter.com/XBzJI9EVQm
However, Musk's plans are much broader than a few dozen Cybercabs in Austin. In the long term, he wants to make hundreds of thousands of already produced Teslas autonomous through software updates.
According to his vision, an owner would be able to send their car to work as a taxi when they are not using it themselves.
There is another obstacle on this path — regulators. In most EU countries, Tesla has not yet received permission even to use its partially autonomous driving system. And in the US, where it is already in use, regulators are conducting several investigations related to its safety.
But investors are not deterred by the risks yet. On the day of the Cybercab launch, Tesla shares rose by more than 5%.
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