Tesla expects to launch Robotaxi for half of the U.S. population by the end of 2025
By ForGeeks
Tesla CEO Ilon Musk has announced plans to expand Tesla Robotaxi’s unmanned cab service to half of the U.S. population by the end of this year. However, the realization of that goal is contingent on regulatory approvals.
Musk reported “hyper-exponential” growth
The Tesla Robotaxi service is currently operating in a limited area of Austin, Texas. According to the company, there are 10 to 20 Model Y vehicles in testing, available to a limited number of participants. Despite the modest scale of the current operation, Ilon Musk has outlined a much larger vision.
At the moment, the Tesla Robotaxi service is in operation in a limited area of Austin, Texas.
In a conference call following the quarterly results, Musk said, “We expect to cover half of the U.S. population with Robotaxi by the end of the year if we receive the appropriate regulatory approvals.” He added that Tesla is already moving toward obtaining such permits in California (Bay Area), Nevada, Arizona, Florida, and several other states.
Mask said the company is being cautious in its scaling process, but expects coverage areas and the number of cars to grow at a “hyper-exponential rate.”
Tesla’s advantages over competitors
Tesla’s main competitive advantage is the use of production Model Y cars without deep modification. Unlike Waymo, Zoox and other market players that equip their cars with additional cameras, lidar and radar, Tesla uses standard equipment. This, the company believes, will allow it to scale faster once legal barriers are removed.
The company says it will be able to scale faster once legal barriers are removed.
In comparison, Alphabet-owned Waymo’s Waymo service is already available in a number of major US cities, including Austin, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Atlanta. The company plans to launch its unmanned cabs in Miami and Washington DC by 2026.
While Musk’s statements are traditionally highly ambitious, experts emphasize that the future development of the Tesla project is directly dependent on the speed and flexibility of regulatory approval in key states.
The Tesla expects to launch Robotaxi for half of the U.S. population by the end of 2025 was first published on ITZine.ru.
