NHTSA Investigates
Last weekend, the Tesla Robotaxi was put into use on a small scale in Austin, Texas. The self-driving Teslas reportedly violated traffic rules multiple times, resulting in the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) getting involved.
Tesla has been positioning itself for years as a brand that is advanced in the field of autonomous driving. It already offers functions under the names Autopilot and Full-Self Driving Capability (FSD) that should allow you to navigate traffic semi-autonomously with a Tesla. In addition, Tesla envisions a future with fully autonomous Cybercabs that you can use. The Cybercabs are still a few years away. However, Tesla launched a small fleet of Robotaxis in Austin (Texas) last weekend. These are Tesla Model Ys that are used as autonomous taxis. In a Tesla Robotaxi, you are not alone; each one still has a Tesla employee in the passenger seat who can intervene if things threaten to go wrong, or simply have gone wrong. What turns out? Something went wrong several times.