Tesla has been granted a ride-hail permit in California by the state’s Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), paving the way for the EV giant to make good on its promise to launch a robotaxi service soonish.
CEO Elon Musk has been promising self-driving Teslas for roughly a decade now, and the company made a big noise about robotaxis last October when it unveiled the autonomous two-seater Cybercab and the 20-seat Robovan it plans to launch in 2026.
This California Transportation Charter-Party permit is the first bit of paperwork the automaker will need to begin testing its driverless taxis in the state. This A Certificate will only allow the company to transport its own employees as passengers in Tesla cars for the time being. Expanding trials to the public will require Tesla to notify the agency first.
It’ll also need to get a nod from the local Department of Motor Vehicles to test its cabs, and join CPUC’s autonomous vehicle passenger program before it can launch a commercial robotaxi service.
If it gets its ducks in a row 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 thus far.
Tesla
It’ll be interesting to see how Tesla’s plans shake out. It still has more red tape to get through in California, and Musk said on an earnings call in January that it planned 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’re equipped to record crash data. So it’s possible that Tesla’s robotaxi plans will advance further and faster there than in California.
The Lone Star state will also become a battlefield for robtaxi outfits in the near future. The city of Austin already has Waymo cabs available via Uber’s app, and Lyft plans to bring driverless taxis on to its platform for riders in Dallas later this year.
Tesla
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 & Co. will need to stay the course and get the meter running right quick.