Tesla owners could soon turn their cars into robotaxis
What's the story
Tesla has announced plans to allow its customers to add their own vehicles into the company's robotaxi fleet. The feature is expected to be available by Q2 2027, according to Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's VP for Autonomous Driving. He said during a recent earnings call that "some of the first customer vehicles" could be integrated into the robotaxi fleet around that time.
Integration hurdles
Integrating customer cars into fleet is a complex process
Elluswamy also highlighted the technical challenges of integrating customer-owned vehicles into the robotaxi fleet.
He said, "The only additional requirement is to make sure that, for example, the customer Model Y can be part of the geofences and the fleet management that Tesla has for it to be fully autonomous."
This indicates a complex process involving software updates and adjustments to existing systems.
Past promises
Tesla's journey toward unsupervised Full Self-Driving
Tesla's journey toward "unsupervised" Full Self-Driving has been fraught with missed deadlines.
Back in 2019, Elon Musk had promised that customer-owned vehicles would be part of a "Tesla Network" of robotaxis.
However, as of now, only a few hundred Robotaxis are operational in Texas and Florida, some of which still have human safety monitors onboard.
Recent developments
Surge in Full Self-Driving adoption
Despite the delays, Tesla has seen a surge in Full Self-Driving (FSD) adoption among new car buyers in North America. Over 75% of new buyers opted for the feature this quarter, a significant increase from last quarter.
The company also launched a new Robotaxi safety website, claiming to have driven 3.3 million miles autonomously - up from 380,000 unsupervised miles reported in July.
Future obstacles
Regulatory challenges and technical limitations
Even if Tesla opens its robotaxi fleet to customer-owned vehicles, regulatory challenges remain. Unsupervised autonomous ride-hailing needs specific local and state regulatory permits, which could be hard to obtain.
Plus, older Model 3 and Y vehicles without the latest full-self-driving hardware suites are limited by their capabilities.
Dedicated vehicles like Cybercab are designed for driverless passenger service, while consumer vehicles need extra software layers for safety without human intervention.