Credits: thedrive.com
Though Tesla's self-driving robotaxi service launched with high expectations, it is now considered an immediate failure. It began in Austin, Texas, with modified Model Y cars and a human supervisor, and within 5 months, the service has been involved in 7 total accidents. Rather than the flawless, futuristic product first promised by CEO Elon Musk, consumer perceptions have become quite disappointing.
While Tesla has maintained that an employee human supervisor is always on board to intervene with issues, accidents have still occurred. In one situation, a video captured a supervisor asleep during a ride. Not even moving the human supervisor to the driver's seat made a difference; the accidents did, and still do, occur. In some recent cases, a robotaxi crashed into a reversing car and struck a cyclist, who fortunately was not injured. It is painfully obvious that Tesla's robotaxi barely manages basic driving situations that most autonomous systems can handle.
What is even more alarming is that the accident numbers for Tesla’s robotaxis are significantly higher than those for humans. When compared with conventional taxis, they have almost a double amount of accidents. Tesla’s self-driving technology is obviously not ready to go mainstream yet and many municipalities have said "no" to robotaxis due to safety issues. Overall, it seems the very ambitious dream of robotaxis is facing the demands of road safety, and it seems there is a long way to go before any of these cars can be on the streets at scale.