Musk begins Tesla robotaxi test in Texas

Emphasising safety, he limits operations

- NORIHIKO SHIROUZU ABHIRUP ROY

Tesla deployed a small group of self-driving taxis picking up paying passengers on Sunday in Austin, Texas, with CEO Elon Musk announcing the “robotaxi launch” and social-media influencers posting videos of their first rides.

The event marked the first time Tesla cars without human drivers have carried paying riders, a business that Mr Musk sees as crucial to the electric car maker's financial future.

He called the moment the “culmination of a decade of hard work” in a post on his social-media platform X and noted that “the AI chip and software teams were built from scratch within Tesla.”

Teslas were spotted early Sunday in a neighbourhood called South Congress with no one in the driver's seat but one person in the passenger seat. The automaker planned a small trial with about 10 vehicles and front-seat riders acting as “safety monitors,’ though it remained unclear how much control they had over the vehicles.

In recent days, the automaker sent invites to a select group of influencers for a carefully monitored robotaxi trial in a limited zone. The rides are being offered for a flat fee of $4.20, Mr Musk said on X.

Tesla investor and social-media personality Sawyer Merritt posted videos on X on Sunday afternoon showing him ordering, getting picked up and taking a ride to a nearby bar and restaurant using a Tesla robotaxi app.