Tesla begins offering robotaxi rides in Austin without a human safety driver

Tesla is offering passengers robotaxi rides in Austin without a human safety driver in the front seat.

CEO Elon Musk posted on his social media platform X on Thursday: “Just started driving a Tesla robotaxi in Austin without safety monitors in the car. Congratulations to the Tesla AI team!”

He then called for engineers interested in “solving real-world AI” to join the Tesla AI team, saying this would “likely lead to AGI.”

Last June, the company launched a robotaxi in Texas in a limited run with a safety operator in the passenger seat. Tesla initially offered its first rides to influencers and select customers. Tesla began testing robotaxis in Austin in December without a safety driver in the front seat in case a human needs to take over driving the vehicle.

Not all Tesla vehicles in Austin will be completely driverless. Ashok Elswamy, Tesla’s AI lead, said the company plans to “start with a broader robotaxis fleet with safety monitors, mixed with a few unattended vehicles, and increase that proportion over time.”

According to one rider who posted on X, Tesla charges a fee for the ride. Apparently there are tracking cars chasing self-driving cars.

Some of Tesla’s rivals, such as Zoox and Waymo, did not immediately charge for self-driving cars during initial rollouts.

TechCrunch tried to reach out to Tesla for clarification.

This article has been updated with new information, including that Tesla is charging for rides.