Tesla Scores California Ride-Hail Permit For Its Robotaxi Service

Tesla has been granted a ride-hail permit in California by the state’s Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), paving the way for the electric vehicle giant to fulfill its promise of launching a robotaxi service soon.

Elon Musk’s Long-Standing Vision for Self-Driving Teslas

CEO Elon Musk has been promising self-driving Teslas for about a decade now, and the company made a big splash about robotaxis last October when it unveiled the autonomous two-seater Cybercab and the 20-seat Robovan, which it plans to launch in 2026.

This California Transportation Charter-Party permit is the first piece of paperwork the automaker needs to begin testing its driverless taxis in the state. This certificate will only allow the company to transport its own employees as passengers in Tesla cars for now. Expanding the trials to the public will require Tesla to notify the agency first.

It will also need to get approval from the local Department of Motor Vehicles to test its cabs and join the CPUC’s autonomous vehicle passenger program before it can launch a commercial robotaxi service.

Tesla Faces Competition from Waymo in California

If it gets through the regulatory hurdles in California, Tesla will face off against Waymo, which has been operating its robotaxis in Los Angeles and San Francisco for a while now and has clocked more than 20 million miles on public roads.

It will be interesting to see how Tesla’s plans unfold. It still has more red tape to navigate in California, and Musk said on an earnings call in January that it plans to deploy cabs without drivers behind the wheel in Texas by June.

As Reuters noted, Texas state law allows self-driving vehicle companies to operate their vehicles on public roads without special permits as long as they are equipped to record crash data. So it’s possible that Tesla’s robotaxi plans will advance further and faster there than in California.

Texas Becomes a Key Battleground for Robotaxi Companies

The Lone Star state will also become a battleground for robotaxi companies in the near future. The city of Austin already has Waymo cabs available via Uber’s app, and Lyft plans to bring driverless taxis onto its platform for riders in Dallas later this year.

The permit not only signaled Tesla’s seriousness about its robotaxi plans but also helped its stock bounce back by 5% on Wednesday. Its current valuation is riding on its promised driverless cab service, so Musk and his team will need to stay the course and get the meter running quickly.

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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