Overview

• Tesla has been officially added to Austin’s autonomous vehicle testing registry ahead of its June 12 pilot launch.
• The pilot will deploy roughly 10 Model Y vehicles running Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software in tightly geofenced areas.
• Each robotaxi will be monitored by remote human operators ready to intervene in case of system failures.
• Waymo’s fully driverless fleet already operates in multiple U.S. cities, challenging Tesla’s late entry with a stronger safety record.
• Federal investigations into crashes involving Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD systems put regulatory pressure on the company’s robotaxi ambitions.