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As Robotaxis becomes a more familiar sight on the streets of Los Angeles, Tesla has taken a step closer to building self-driving electric vehicles, the California Utilities Commission confirmed last week.
In November, Tesla applied for permission to allow the electric car manufacturing giant to deploy transport services with company-owned vehicles and human drivers. Tesla requires permission to proceed to autonomous driving.
Elon Musk’s chief executive has long revealed his ambitions for a Robotaxi service with Tesla vehicles, but his company has been criticized by the US government’s Highway Safety Agency for releasing a statement that the vehicles can drive themselves.
Certainly, automakers still have a long way to go before they can start services.
And it’s still catching up. Waymo already has driverless vehicles on roads in cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, but industry experts say Tesla is far from still offering Robotaxi services.
What should you know about this:
What is the permission?
Transport charter party carrier permit, or TCP. According to the CPUC website, companies that use buses or limousines for sporting events or special occasions are using this permit.
If permitted, the permit itself will not allow Tesla to drive self-driving vehicles. Rather, the permit is a prerequisite for the Commission’s self-driving vehicle passenger service, with Tesla giving the state permission to deploy unmanned taxis.
Currently, only a handful of companies are allowed to deploy Driverless Taxi in California. Waymo, Weride AI, and Zoox. Cruise, closed by General Motors after suffering serious injuries to a pedestrian, has halted its permit.
What is Tesla’s plan?
There is no direct link between obtaining a TCP and the operation of the fleet’s Robotaxis, said Bryant Walker Smith, an associate professor of law at the University of South Carolina who specializes in emerging transport technology.
But Musk is probably trying to signal a move towards autonomous services, he said.
“One possibility is that it has nothing to do with Robotaxis, and they just want to run a lot of Tesla Party buses,” Bryant said. “I don’t think that’s possible.”
Obtaining a TCP could help Tesla lay the foundations for its future fleet, said Sam Abuel-Elsmid, who is studying emerging transport technologies for telemetry insights.
“They probably want to do some real-world testing of their dispatch system and look down when they want to launch the Robotaxi service,” he said.
Musk said in his January revenue call that using autonomous driving would make a big profit, claiming that older cars will attract more value overnight with software updates. “Leah, few people understand the value of full self-driving and the ability to monetize the fleet,” he said.
How quickly did the Driver Restes Ra taxi hit the road?
The timeline for an unmanned Tesla cab in California is unknown. The company must be approved for TCP permission and also apply to and accept the CPUC Autonomous Vehicle Program. The California Department of Motor Vehicles requires a permit for testing, and ultimately deploys unmanned vehicles.
Autonomous Tesla could hit roads faster in Austin, Texas, and regulations are not strict. Tesla contacted an Austin official who is in charge of the Autonomous Vehicle Task Force last May, Bloomberg reported.
California’s regulatory process could take up to a year, assuming Tesla’s technology proves safe, Smith said.
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment, but Musk said in January’s revenue that Tesla will use CyberTruck, Model 3 and Model YS to place the Model Y as early as this year, using unsupervised “full autonomous” technology on roads in Texas and California. Last October guests were on closed trucks with cybercabs and cybervan prototypes that didn’t have steering wheels, rearview mirrors, and gas or brake pedals.
“I tend to be a little more optimistic about the time frame,” Musk told the crowd during a Tesla keynote speech in Burbank in October. Musk has been promising to drive completely autonomously back in the past, dating back to 2014. He also overstated Tesla’s capabilities in fully autonomous modes, according to Abuel Samide and other experts.
“I don’t think Robotaxis will happen at Tesla for a long time,” Abuel Elsim said. “I don’t think their technology is suitable for it until they make some fundamental changes.”
Is technology safe?
Tesla’s monitored “full autonomous driving” mode is currently not working without humans and has been investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for safety concerns after multiple crashes, including those that killed pedestrians.
Tesla told the driver he needed to be ready to intervene immediately while using full self-driving mode, and the driver who attacked the train while using Autopilot admitted that the crash was his fault, NBC reported.
According to the Washington Post, the NHTSA’s autonomous motor vehicle regulator suffered layoffs after targeting Elon Musk-led government efficiency agency targets.
A study by ISEeCars.com released in November, Tesla said that the fatal accident rates for all car brands between 2017 and 2022 despite high accident safety ratings by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Tesla executives said that in this study they called X-Post’s “ClickBait” and used an estimated mileage number that was not accurate in this study.
Tesla’s autonomous driving skills differ in some ways from Waymo’s, Abuel el Amid said. Waymo vehicles use cameras, radars, and laser-based radar types, called Lidar, to navigate the road. Mask has repeatedly criticised Lidar for using it, but according to Abuelsamid, his reliance on cameras has made it less safe for a fully automated driving mode.
Smith also noted the factors that distinguish operational Waymo driverless technology from Tesla’s fully automated driving mode. Waymo vehicles often rely on a modular learning process that can navigate using more advanced maps and respond to the surrounding environment.
“Every announcement that Musk creates is intended to try to build a narrative about Tesla’s autonomy,” Abuelsamid said. “When you actually see technology, it just can’t stand it.”
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