Will Tesla's robotaxis hit a roadblock?

Jon Bentley wonders whether the company's eternal promise of fully self-driving cars is finally about to shift into gear

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Since 2013, Elon Musk has been promising us a fully autonomous Tesla, suggesting it'll be along in two or three years. But it never arrives. It's one of those tantalising, much-hyped futures that always seems just out of reach. But could the company's recent foray into the robotaxi business mean that fiction is finally about to turn into reality?

A fully autonomous car would be one that achieves Level 5 on the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) ranking. This means it can handle all driving tasks in all conditions and in all places without any human intervention. The best a Tesla can currently do is Level 2, a vehicle that can do some things automatically - such as adjusting its speed according to surrounding traffic - but the driver must be ready to intervene at any moment.