The California Public Utilities Commission confirmed last week that Tesla has taken a step closer to building its own fleet of self-driving electric vehicles as robots become increasingly familiar on the streets of Los Angeles.
In November, Tesla applied for a license that would allow the electric vehicle manufacturing giant to deploy transportation services with company-owned vehicles and human drivers. Tesla needs a license to be promoted to the self-driving cab.
CEO Elon Musk has long made clear his ambitions for robotic services powered by Tesla cars, despite his company being criticized by the U.S. government Highway Safety Agency for his statement that his vehicles can drive themselves.
To be sure, automakers still have a long way to go before launching their services.
And it's still catching up. While Waymo has placed driverless cars on roads in cities including Los Angeles and San Francisco, industry experts say Tesla is still far from offering Robotaxi services.
Here's what to know:
What is a license?
Carrier license or TCP for the transport charter. Companies renting for sporting events or luxury cars use this license, according to the CPUC's website.
If granted, the license itself will not allow Tesla to travel any self-driving vehicle with or without someone behind the steering wheel. Instead, the license is a prerequisite for the commission’s self-driving car passenger service, which will allow Tesla to deploy driverless taxis in the state.
Currently, only a few companies are allowed to deploy driverless taxis in California – Waymo, Weride AI and Zoox. Cruise caused serious injury to pedestrians after it was closed by General Motors and its permit was suspended.
What is Tesla's plan?
Bryant Walker Smith, associate professor of law at the University of South Carolina, said there is no direct connection between obtaining TCP and operating fleet robots, who specializes in emerging transportation technologies.
But Musk is likely to try to move towards autonomous services, he said.
“One possibility is that it has nothing to do with robots, they really just want to run a bunch of Tesla party buses,” Bryant said. “I don't think it's likely.”
Sam Abuelsamid said getting TESLA could help Tesla lay the foundation for future fleets, and he has researched emerging telemetry insights transportation technologies.
“They may want to do some realistic testing of their scheduling system, looking down when they hope to launch the Robotaxi service,” he said.
Musk said in a January earnings call that leveraging autonomous driving would bring huge benefits, claiming older cars would attract more value through software updates overnight. “Seldom understand the value of all autonomous driving and our ability to profit through our fleet,” he said.
How long does it take for a driverless Tesla taxi to get on the road?
The schedule for driverless Tesla taxis in California is not yet clear. The company must be approved to obtain a TCP license and apply for and be accepted as a CPUC self-driving car program. The California Department of Automobile also needs to ensure that the license for driverless vehicles is tested and ultimately deployed.
Tesla's autonomy may soon be driving on the road in Austin, Texas, where regulations are less stringent. According to Bloomberg, Tesla contacted Austin officials in May last year.
Smith said that assuming Tesla’s technology proves safe, California’s regulatory process could take a year.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, but Musk said on January's earnings call, Tesla will use unsupervised “fully self-autonomous driving” technology to use Seibertruck, Model 3S and Model YS on roads in Texas and California earlier this year. Last October, guests rode on a closed track in the prototype of the Cycoon and Cycling race that lacked a steering wheel, rearview mirror, and gas or brake pedals.
“I'm a little optimistic about the schedule,” Musk told the crowd in October during a Tesla keynote speech in Burbank. Musk had promised in the past that he had been fully autonomous as early as 2014. According to Abuelsamid and other experts, he also overstated Tesla's ability to fully autonomous driving mode.
“I don’t expect a robot to happen for Tesla for a long time,” Abersameid said. “I don’t think their technology is suitable for this until some fundamental changes are made.”
Is this technology safe?
Tesla's oversight of “full autonomous driving” mode currently has no human wheels that don't work, and is investigating safety issues after multiple crashes, including those who kill pedestrians.
NBC reported that Tesla told drivers that they must be ready for intervention immediately when using fully autonomous mode, and a driver using autopilot admitted that the crash was his fault.
According to the Washington Post, NHTSA’s self-driving vehicle regulator suffered layoffs after the Elon Musk-led government cuts its team’s goals.
Despite the use of driver assistance technology and the high crash safety ratings of the Institute for Highway Safety Insurance, Tesla had the highest rate of fatal accidents between 2017 and 2022 between 2017 and 2022, a study released by Iseecars.com said in November. Tesla executives called the study “Click -Bait” in an X post and said the study used inaccurate estimated mileage.
Tesla's autonomous driving technology is different from Waymo's autonomous driving technology in several aspects. Waymo vehicles use cameras and radar and a laser-based radar called LiDAR. According to Abuelsamid, Musk has repeatedly condemned the use of LiDAR, but his heavy reliance on cameras has reduced the safety of fully autonomous driving modes.
Smith also pointed to factors that distinguish Waymo driverless technology from Tesla's complete autonomous driving mode. He said Waymo vehicles use more advanced maps for navigation and rely more often on modular learning processes, allowing them to respond to their surroundings.
“Every announcement Musk has made is intended to try to establish a narrative of Tesla’s autonomy,” Abersameid said. “When you actually look at the technology, it doesn’t stick to it.”
