Tesla eventually worked indifferently. The company launched its hot expected robotics service in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, June 22, and now we are starting to see some of the previous reactions.
But first, we have to take some important warnings out of the way. Clearly, the service is not open to the general public, nor is it completely “non -survey”, as Elon Musk once promised. These vehicles will include a “safety monitor” in the front passenger seat, which can react to the dangerous situation by hitting the hit switch. Other autonomous vehicles operators apply protective monitors on drivers or passenger seats, but usually only during the testing phase. Tesla is unique in using its safety monitor during commercial service.
The ride is limited to a geofrad area of the city, which the company has made well mapped. And in some cases, Tesla is using cars and remote drivers as extra backups. (Some vehicles are seen without chase cars.)
According to Tesla’s website, the service is invited only to the launch. Tesla’s many impressive people have received invitations, raising questions about how neutral this first critical reaction would be. Tesla has not said when the service will be available to the common people.
The limited trial includes 10-20 models Y vehicles, including “robotics” branding. A completely independent cybercab that was revealed for the first time last year will not be available at 2026 as soon as possible. This service works in a small, relatively Safe safe area of Austin from 6am to 12pm, which avoids bad weather, highways, airports and complex intersections.
Despite these hours, it seems that robotics service has come to a slow start. Many invited people have not yet received a robotics app up to 1pm et on Sunday. Swear merit, which publishes Tesla’s pro -Tesla’s content on X, said he saw 30 Vimo vehicles awaiting the launch of Tesla’s robotics service. Kasturi posted at 1:12 pm that the service would be available at the end of this afternoon, adding that the initial users would pay 20 4.20 “flat fees” for the riders.
When the riders waited, the company published a new robotics page on its website that describes many service rules and regulations. Visitors are invited to sign up for updates when Tesla’s robotics service can come to their area. (Musk has said that a thousand robotics on the road can be “in a few months”).)
Finally, after accessing the app, Merit posted a picture of the service area map, which showed a small area adjacent to the North Colorado River, highway 183 in the east, highways 290 and 71 in the south and Zilker in the west.
And then the rides began – and they look mostly unpleasant. Many invited people called for their first cars, talking to the UI, and then reaching themselves at their destination. Many videos continued for hours, as the invited ended a journey and then welcomed another car immediately after that. A tester, bearded Tesla Guy, described the app’s interface as “primarily Uber”. Many people had some difficulty in finding their waiting Tesla robotics place.
“It’s like a Pokémon hunt,” a person said on a direct series of Herbert Ong, “but his robotoxy is a victim.”
Once you enter, Tesla will showcase her robotoxic apps to prove her identity with employees. Otherwise, the protective monitor remained silent throughout the ride, yet the riders tried to talk to them. I am assuming that if they intend to remove the safety monitor from the passenger seat, Tesla will need to come with another way to identify its riders. For example, Vemo asks users to unlock their vehicle through the Ride Heel app.
The previous screen instructs riders to strengthen their seat belts, and after pressing the dynamic “start ride” button, the vehicle is driving. The riders can also start a ride with a similar button in the app. Since the riders are enrolled using their pre -existing Tesla profiles for the robotics app, they have been welcomed with their preferred music apps on the rear screen with all their playlists and secured tracks.
The Front Display shows a concept like Tesla’s full self-driving feature, like users’ vehicles-however, Musk said that the robotx is operating on a particular version of the FSD that is not available to Tesla’s average owner. There are “bridge over,” “stop”, or “support” buttons on the center display. Another Tester, Chuck Cook, said that the concept lacked some controls that could have a common Tesla.
Pressing the support button keeps the rider in line as he waits for a remote operator to connect. On the kick’s live stream, it took about two minutes before the operator was attached to the end. The operator said, “We appreciate calling you.” “We are present for any problem to support your ride.”
During various visits, robotics faced normal conditions, such as U -turn, speed collision, pedestrian, construction and more. Vehicles maintained about 40 40 miles per hour or slow. The common words to describe the ride were “smooth,” great “and” ordinary “. One Tester said on X that they need to “mess up” robotics that need the help of a remote operator – though he refused to describe it as neglecting it.
The head of the company’s self -driving team, Ashok Elviswami, posted a photo of a dozen people in a room with 10 major monitors on the wall, showing direct camera feeds from several vehicles. “Robotics launch party,” Elviswamy wrote.
Where Tesla goes here is the real challenge. Musk has said he also wants to start a robotics service in California, where the regulatory process is far more complicated than Texas. And although he has said that he wants to slow down things, he also claims that Tesla will have more than a thousand drivers on the road without vehicles.
Meanwhile, more than 1,500 drivers are operating in Vimo San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin. The alphabetical company has said it will increase its fleet to 2,000 vehicles by next year.
