Elon Musk’s robotaxi plans ‘alarmed, confused San Francisco’

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tantalised investors in July with a robotaxi update: After a small-scale test in Austin, Texas, Tesla would rapidly expand driverless cabs to markets including the San Francisco Bay Area, where it was “getting the regulatory permission to launch.”

- CHRIS KIRKHAM

An autonomous Tesla robotaxi drives on a street in Austin, Texas, during a trial run in June.

(REUTERS)

Mr Musk posted on X earlier that month that Tesla would deploy robot-axis there “probably in a month or two.” The reality of Tesla’s San Francisco plans did not include driverless taxis at all. The automaker had not applied for the needed permits, a process that can take years of testing under state oversight.

Instead, it planned prearranged trips in human-driven vehicles only for riders who received an invitation. And it would do this under a permit that is typically used for limousines and does not allow on-demand ride-hailing, according to state officials.

News of Tesla’s robotaxi plans surprised and alarmed regulators, according to emails among California and federal officials and a Tesla public-policy staffer, which Reuters obtained through a public-records request.

After a media report that Tesla would deploy Bay Area robotaxis in late July, a senior state transportation official asked the Tesla employee whether the company would clear up the “public confusion.” The staffer did not directly respond, saying only that Tesla does not answer media inquiries and that customers would receive information when available.

The following month, Mr Musk posted on X that the “Tesla Robotaxi service area is already larger than any competitors in Austin and the Bay Area.” Mr Musk and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment on this story. A spokesperson for the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates autonomous ride-hailing, said Tesla is required to “properly and accurately” describe its service and ensure its communications “provide a clear distinction” between its human-driven operations in California and autonomous ride-hailing it offers elsewhere.