In October 2024, Tesla officially unveiled its self-driving taxi, Cybercab, whose Autopilot and fully autonomous driving programs are currently not compliant and require additional upgrades. That’s why the company decided to launch the service, but with a driver behind the wheel.

Musk wants to put Cybercab into service as soon as possible and try to catch up with competitors like Waymo, the current leader in this field. At the beginning, they also had drivers in their vehicles until they reached the level of fully autonomous driving. The plan is to start operations in Texas in the next few months, but Tesla currently needs a license for autonomous vehicles in addition to a passenger transport license in order to use this type of vehicle.

In December, Tesla demonstrated driving a Cybercab via a controller. According to AutoEvolution, the Tesla Cybercab comes with a small Xbox-like controller that plugs into the car and is used for steering and pedals. They are still looking for an operator to use their Cybercab cars, but many believe that this will not happen in the next three years.

Unlike other self-driving cars that use LiDAR, Tesla relies on cameras and neural networks. This unique approach is not considered by many to be the best solution, believing that it cannot safely achieve full autonomy.

While Tesla struggles to find a solution for Cybercab, competitors are increasing their operations. For example, Waymo makes more than 200,000 rides a week in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles.

Source: Bloomberg