The evolution of self-driving cars has finally brought us here. Tesa has introduced its seld-driving Robotaxi with no steering wheels or pedals. Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla announced on October 23, 2024, that Tesla will launch its robotaxi service by 2025.
Tesla currently provides an app-based ride-hailing service for its employees in the San Francisco Bay Area. The mass production of Robotaxi is expected by 2026.
A trailer was leaked last week showing Robotaxi backing up to a wireless charger pad on the ground. After charging, the taxi just has to move forward. This charger, however, was bought from Wiferion which specializes in wireless EV charging. This technology is rumored to have an efficiency of 99%. The charger is said to have 25kW energy.
Another word about the charger, this system also has IP68 water-resistance certification making it useful even outdoors. As it has a high charging capacity, short stops are enough for charging. One fun fact is that this charger can be accessed in any direction.
There was a press that was released by Warner Bros to Musk where he talked about the Cybercab and later it was available for test rides, people could witness a car that was moving in the direction using Google Maps and cameras and a car that had no pedals or steering wheel.
Musk further claimed that a robotaxi would shift Tesla’s identity entirely and that is what the aim of the company is, right now. Even though Tesla has not gotten approval to release it on the road, Musk is positive about it and said that there is hope for next year.
Waymo, formerly known as the Google Self-driving Car Project, an American autonomous driving technology company, offered paid rides in autonomous vehicles in the Bay Area and other places like Arizona and Phoenix after spending years logging millions of miles of testing before it received its first permit from the California Public Utilities Commission or CPUC. CPUS regulates ride-hailing services. Even after seeing this struggle, Musk did not back down and that shows a lot about his confidence about his project.
Texas has only a few regulatory requirements for autonomous vehicles than California so Musk was planning to launch these Robo-taxi in Texas and California and then move to other countries and hopefully, continents. Still, the idea of Tesla launching a Robotaxi has brought some major attention to pre-paid modes for this car and Musk said in an interview that he has more than a million people in queue for the Cybercab.
Last week, an investigation was conducted by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA to check for the number of crashes in 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD. The results came out as only four reported collisions, including the 2023 fatal crash. The launching of Robotaxi is also said to reduce the post-market trading of Uber and Lyft by 2.3%. Only time could tell!
This advanced technology in Tesla’s consumer vehicles is called Full Self-Driving and is designed to help a Tesla vehicle change lanes and navigate roads.
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