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Tesla’s Robotaxi App Is Here, but It Still Needs a Driver · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk
• 0:04
  Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
• 0:07
  the critical crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The
• 0:11
  Boring Company and Neurolink. I'm your host, Will Walden.
• 0:16
  Tesla just took the next step in its robo taxi roll out by
• 0:19
  officially launching A dedicated ride Hamming app and opening
• 0:23
  access to the service for the public in a growing number of
• 0:26
  U.S. cities. The company moved from limited
• 0:28
  internal tests to a broader pilot program that now lets
• 0:31
  regular users hail self driving Teslas through a stand alone
• 0:35
  app. That shift raises one big
• 0:37
  question though. How does Tesla plan to scale
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  this while still being years away from regulatory approval
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  for full autonomy? Now Tesla made the new robotaxi
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  experience available in select locations, including parts of
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  Austin and San Francisco, where it already had heavy full Self
• 0:54
  driving beta penetration. Users can now download the test
• 0:58
  the Ribotaxi app, request rides, and experience a system in
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  vehicles that still include a safety driver.
• 1:04
  Tesla quietly confirmed the launch during its most recent
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  event, but is letting the app speak for itself and has the
• 1:10
  same clean interface as Tesla's car UI, and its back end is
• 1:14
  reportedly built on top of the existing Tesla app
• 1:17
  infrastructure. Now, Tesla designed the system
• 1:20
  to mimic the flow of Uber or Lyft with trip estimates, driver
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  rival tracking, and an option to rate the experience.
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  What it doesn't have as a fully autonomous vehicle yet though,
• 1:32
  Tesla still requires a person to monitor behind the wheel, and in
• 1:36
  most cases, that driver can intervene instantly.
• 1:39
  That reality hasn't stopped Elon Musk from saying publicly that
• 1:42
  robo taxis will soon be the core of Tesla's revenue model.
• 1:46
  Internally, Tesla teams are treating the soft launch as a
• 1:49
  real world simulation of what the final service might look
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  like. This isn't just another rollout,
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  though. Tesla filed to operate as a
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  transportation network company at TNC in multiple states,
• 2:01
  including California and Texas. To legally run a commercial ride
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  Handling service of that legal framework means Tesla now has to
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  play by the same operational rules as Uber and Lyft,
• 2:11
  including safety monitoring, incident reporting, and vehicle
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  compliance standards. Tesla is currently operating
• 2:17
  under a limited pilot designation which allows for
• 2:20
  human supervised testing without the fully autonomy certification
• 2:24
  that Cruz and Waymo had to obtain.
• 2:27
  You know, Musk keep saying full autonomy is just around the
• 2:30
  corner, but that corner keeps moving.
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  Tesla has yet to prove that it's FSD stack can handle every
• 2:36
  driving scenario without intervention.
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  In a recent months, the company has started emphasizing
• 2:40
  supervised autonomy instead, framing the robotaxi program as
• 2:44
  a way to collect scale data while still having a human on
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  board, and the current app rollout reflects that shift.
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  Tesla is gathering real world user behavior, right acceptance
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  data, and edge case driving scenarios while still operating
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  within legal limits. Tesla stock reacted immediately
• 3:02
  to this launch, of course, with bulls pointing to the app as the
• 3:05
  first clear sign that Tesla is moving beyond hardware sales.
• 3:09
  Tesla can convince regulators, investors, and consumers that
• 3:12
  its software can generate ride hailing revenue at scale that
• 3:16
  would validate years of promises by Elon Musk.
• 3:19
  The company has long argued that its valuation depends less on
• 3:21
  cars sold and more on monetizing autonomous models.
• 3:25
  And with the app in market, Tesla can now start showing real
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  usage numbers, even if they still come with a human
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  chaperone on board. Now critics point out that other
• 3:36
  self driving companies have already been Tesla to full
• 3:38
  autonomy, at least in limited zones.
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  Waymo and crews received permits for fully driverless operations
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  in parts of San Francisco and Phoenix.
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  Tesla, meanwhile, still operates with a safety driver in every
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  robo taxi. And the difference is Tesla's
• 3:53
  decision to skip lidar and HD mapping in favor of a provision
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  approach, which it claims will scale more easily over time.
• 4:02
  And that choice has made regulators hesitant.
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  And there's still no timeline for when Tesla will apply for
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  driverless permits. Tesla's real differentiator is
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  scale. The company already has millions
• 4:13
  of cars on the road with FSD capabilities.
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  If it ever flips the switch on unsupervised mode, it could
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  instantly convert a huge percentage of its fleet into
• 4:22
  revenue generating robo taxis. That's the core of the bull
• 4:25
  case. Even though today's service
• 4:27
  still includes a human monitor, infrastructure now exists to
• 4:31
  turn every FSD enabled Tesla into a ride handling vehicle
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  with a software update. At the same time, Tesla faces
• 4:39
  new technical and legal challenges that could slow that
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  vision. Recent investigations into the
• 4:44
  safety of FSD has raised questions about its ability to
• 4:47
  meet the standards required for driverless operation.
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  Tesla is still under review by multiple regulatory agencies,
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  and its own crash data hasn't fully cleared the skepticism
• 4:56
  around system reliability. Now, unlike Cruise, which faced
• 5:00
  a temporary shutdown due to safety concerns, Tesla is trying
• 5:04
  to walk the line between public testing and regulatory
• 5:07
  compliance without making major public concessions.
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  Now, the app launch also exposes Tesla to a new category of user
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  feedback that it hasn't had to deal with before.
• 5:18
  Passengers are now experienced the FSD system from the
• 5:20
  backseat, which means every slow turn, awkward lane merge, or
• 5:24
  stop sign hesitation get scrutinized in a way that normal
• 5:28
  drivers might ignore. Experience may feel novel right
• 5:32
  now, but Tesla will need to refine both the system behavior
• 5:36
  and the overall rider experience if it wants to be on par with
• 5:40
  Uber and Lyft and I'll. Tesla's timeline for going fully
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  driverless remains undefined. The company has yet to submit a
• 5:48
  formal application for driverless operation in most
• 5:50
  states. Sources inside the California
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  Public Utilities Commission say they haven't received a full
• 5:56
  autonomy filing from Tesla. And until that changes, the
• 5:59
  Robotaxi app will stay in hybrid mode, the safety drivers on
• 6:03
  board and data flowing back to Tesla HQ for system refinement.
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  The app state BU creates the framework for a service that
• 6:10
  could eventually scale, but the technology inside the car still
• 6:13
  has to meet the legal and performance threshold for
• 6:16
  unsupervised operations. Tesla has moved from promises to
• 6:19
  partial roll out, but the leap to full autonomy remains
• 6:23
  unproven. Hey, thank you so much for
• 6:25
  listening today. I really do appreciate your
• 6:27
  support. If you could take a second and
• 6:29
  hit the subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast
• 6:32
  platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly
• 6:35
  appreciate it. It helps out the show
• 6:36
  tremendously and you'll never miss an episode.
• 6:39
  And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you
• 6:43
  caught up quickly. And please, if you want to
• 6:45
  support the show even more, go to patreon.com/stage Zero.
• 6:51
  And please take care of yourselves and each other.
• 6:53
  And I'll see you tomorrow.