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Posted on 01/27/2026 4:56:18 AM PST by SmokingJoe
Tesla has officially launched public Robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, without a Safety Monitor in the vehicle, marking the first time the company has removed anyone from the vehicle other than the rider.
The Safety Monitor has been present in Tesla Robotaxis in Austin since its launch last June, maintaining safety for passengers and other vehicles, and was placed in the passenger’s seat.
Tesla planned to remove the Safety Monitor at the end of 2025, but it was not quite ready to do so. Now, in January, riders are officially reporting that they are able to hail a ride from a Model Y Robotaxi without anyone in the vehicle:
I am in a robotaxi without safety monitor pic.twitter.com/fzHu385oIb
— TSLA99T (@Tsla99T) January 22, 2026
Tesla started testing this internally late last year and had several employees show that they were riding in the vehicle without anyone else there to intervene in case of an emergency.
Tesla has now expanded that program to the public. It is not active in the entire fleet, but there are a “few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors,” Ashok Elluswamy said:
Robotaxi rides without any safety monitors are now publicly available in Austin.
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(Robotaxi rides)
How did I get here?
The door opened.
You got in. 🙄🙄🙄
The US will be a much better place when vehicle transportation will be 100% driverless.
I prefer an Olds 4-4-2 with a 455 and bucket seats
Otherwise the car becomes a cannoli
That’s funny that you want bucket seats. That’s the one thing that all the new cars have. I miss the straight back bench seat in a four door. My then girl friend (now wife) snuggled up from the now missing middle seat.
That was a 1966 Dodge Dart I had in 1996. Now I could go for something similar to your Olds, a Buick Electra 225 from the same era. I did like my gold 1965 Chrysler 300 (non letter) two-door hardtop with the 383 and quad carb Carter. Nice and torquey.
What could possibly go wrong ... go wrong ... go wrong .....
Undoubtedly not nearly as much as goes wrong with human drivers. Rage, drugs, alcohol, texting, late for appointment: none of these conditions will affect the robo-driver.
Which do you think will be safer?
Safer-that’s what bean counters do.
Just think. Doing work online while transporting oneself. No need for parking lots or garages as an Uber-based system will eliminate the need for private vehicles. Garages can be converted into one’s imagination, perhaps even rented out to the uber companies for quicker neighborhood response. Insurance rates will go down or even eliminated just like the highway patrol. Stalled traffic at intersections will be lower-replaced with turnabouts. One-lane streets requiring less maintenance.
I’m way ahead of you all.
Will people still own private cars?
Driverless will also cost far more. As an engineer I also know system failures will be FAR higher than anyone anticipates. If you think lousy drivers are a hazard now, just wait until these systems fail.
Even as an accused “bean counter,” I do admit to your imaginative foresight here. Self driving vehicles will indeed change our society, much of it beneficial.
There are Waymo taxis in my city. I saw one do an illegal u-turn on a major street right in front of me. It amazed me. I won’t ride in one.
Sure systems fail. But some fail at a fairly small rate. How many successive, successful Falcon 9 rocket launches (and landings) has SpaceX accomplished to date? For such a vastly complex system, the failure rate has been amazingly small.
Had one of those Olds, bigger than an aircraft carrier when you try to park.
Non-sequitur.
“much of it beneficial.”
The ol’, “Sure, people will die, but, damn!, I am going to make some money here!”
Joke post?
Reality:
Cybercabs are expected to cost significantly less than normal taxis and ride-hailing services, with projections suggesting prices as low as \(\$0.20\)–\(\$0.40\) per mile, compared to the \(\$1\)–\(\$1.50+\) per mile for current services. By removing driver labor costs, which account for a large portion of fares, and utilizing efficient, dedicated autonomous vehicles, Tesla aims to make these rides cheaper than operating a personal car.
“Expected”. Always the sales word but never the reality.
Cars are used for far more than just going to and from work or the store.
“Expected”
It was “expected” to have flying cars by now too.
Tesla FSD is much safer then human drivers and the gap is going to grow bigger.
Do you have to be wrong on everything?
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