Posted on 05/30/2026 6:46:45 AM PDT by eastexsteve
A new Texas law allows companies with SAE Level 4 or higher autonomous vehicles to offer commercial driverless transportation.
Tesla wasted no time in self-certifying their vehicles. On the same day the law went into effect, Tesla officially self-certified their FSD software on their robotaxi vehicles as Level 4 compliant.
For years, Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD software, even in Texas, has navigated the consumer market under the constraints imposed by a Level 2 driver-assist system. And while Tesla now operates in Texas as a level-4 system, this does not change the level-2 designation for consumer vehicles. Taking Responsibility
While many of Tesla’s robotaxi rides in Austin were already driverless, there’s an important distinction in level 4 autonomy.
By certifying its software as Level 4 for commercial operations, Tesla is willfully absorbing a substantial portion of the operational liability. It’s legally stating that its vehicles can operate themselves without any human supervision or intervention under certain conditions.
These conditions are typically based on weather, region (geofense), or speed.
This willingness to take on legal accountability is a major turning point for Tesla, as it is the first time the company has been certified as a level 4 system.
SAE International defines a Level-4 autonomous vehicle as:
Entire dynamic driving task (DDT): The system does all steering, braking, accelerating, lane changes, signaling, and monitoring of the driving environment.
Dynamic driving task fallback: If something goes wrong (sensor failure, road closure, etc.), the system itself must handle the situation and achieve a safe outcome. It cannot depend on a human taking over.
Operational Design Domain (ODD): The specific conditions under which the system is designed to operate (certain roads, cities, weather conditions, speeds, etc.).
Consumer Vehicles Still Level 2
This new ruling for Tesla only covers its Robotaxi vehicles. Regular consumer cars, although they use a similar FSD version, are still considered Level 2 by law, and drivers will be fully held responsible.
Vehicles in Austin have advantages over consumer vehicles, even when they run the same FSD software. In addition to being geofenced, these areas have also received additional FSD training, which has improved FSD performance.
Tesla also offers remote assistance to help these vehicles when they encounter situations where their confidence threshold is low.
Ultimately, this is another milestone for Tesla and its Robotaxi network, but it won’t affect consumer vehicles, at least not yet.
But it will refuse to move until you put your seatbelt on
Not as it was explained to me. It records all traffic video from all cameras for a number of minutes prior to the accident. This includes the in-car camera and audio. It knows what seats were occupied, what positions the brake pedal and steering wheel were in, and all sensors.
self-certified................
😆............................
People will do both, send the car ahead, robotaxi to airport and fly to destination experiencing little travel time, find your car at the arrival airport with all the luggage.
Plain flights become cheaper with minimal luggage, or doing cargo/mail transport on top of passenger rides.
That's because there is no certifying governmental body. Manufacturers have to certify themselves according to the defined requirements.
Maybe, but by that point why would he need it?
“So they can go peacefully in their sleep, unlike the fellow drivers....”
and our estate will prosper with Elon picking up the insurance liability.
Lol.
Ditto
“With Tesla accepting “operational liability” for these vehicles, the company is now exposed to product liability claims that aren’t covered by auto insurance. And unlike auto insurance claims, these lawsuits now include the potential for punitive damages — which are not covered by insurance.”
This is a good thing.
Tesla is taking on a lot of risk—and we get to watch and see what happens.
If they survive it we all benefit.
Where do you live that this is not available?
True self driving cars—Maximum Level—total autonomy—are definitely not available at auto dealers anywhere—as far as I know.
Put two or three people in the car together and it becomes half the price of air travel today.
Another benefit is you can take the car to all the places where airports are not easily available, but roads are.
It eliminates the need to rent cars, with all the insane liability and expense issues of rental cars.
Yep, can see it clear as day. Big rigs too. Going to take a lot of jobs. Tons of companies have delivery drivers. I wonder what others will be bye-bye.
As a matter of mitigating the risk of losing that delicate control architecture, whether by catastrophe, war, or government caprice. My truck has points. I keep spare alternator diodes against an EMP or Carrington event.
If a lot of them were in my area, I would probably sell my two vehicles that are around 10 years old and 10,000 miles on each of them. No insurance or upkeep. Yes, retired and getting near 80 years old.
“ But it will refuse to move until you put your seatbelt”
And then threaten to turn the car around this very minute if you misbehave.
The nearest dealership is about 80 miles away, but there are Tesla chargers 15 minutes down the road. That doesn't matter though, because we charge at home. Once you buy one, you notice them everywhere.
I’ll bet that Level 4 is “safe and effective”...
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