All Eyes have been on Tesla’s June robotaxi launch in Austin Texas. Elon Musk first announced a plan for a Tesla robotaxi network in 2019 and his vision-only based Full-Self Drive software has continuously improved since the initial beta releases in 2021. At an October 2024 event, the purposed-built Cybercab was unveiled, but the initial service will roll out based on the current model Y SUV.
Texas lawmakers passed a bill that requires a state permit to operate self-driving vehicles, but that does not go into effect until September. The bill tightens up the regulations after a 2017 bill was passed that does not allow cities themselves to regulate self-driving. Compliance with the new bill remains much easier than in some states like California, which require a lot of testing data to be submitted to the state.
A small group of Teslas started picking up paying passengers in Austin on June 22nd, with a safety observer in the passenger seat. Rides were offered by invite only at a flat fee of $4.20 for now and are available from 6am to 12am, but “may be limited or unavailable in the event of inclement weather”. The day after launch, there were already influencer videos showing smooth rides as well as a couple of videos appearing online showing the cars braking for police vehicles parked in adjacent lots and driving over double yellow lines. NHTSA was aware of some incidents and contacted Tesla for more information. This however, marks a major milestone for Tesla and will be closely watched over the next few months.
In this month’s newsletter we interview Steven Jenkins of Magna about trends in ADAS, provide a summary of all of the 1H ’25 robotaxi announcements, and of course, summarize the relevant ADAS news from June.
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We have also started to book exhibitors and speakers for our November ADAS conference in Germany and still have a few spots left – please contact me if you are interested.
Martin Booth
DVN USA Representative
[email protected]