Tesla is bringing robotaxis closer to becoming a reality with the introduction of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) Supervised ride-hailing service, which is now launching in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area for employees. It’s a significant marker for the company’s continued effort to lead the self-driving car charge.
The FSD Supervised pilot is now offered to a limited number of Tesla employees who’ve already taken more than 1,500 trips and accumulated over 15,000 miles. Early pilot testing is the key to ironing out both the technology and logistics required prior to opening the service to the general public. According to Tesla, the pilot is assisting it in refining everything from its FSD software and mobile app to vehicle dispatch, mission control systems, and remote support.
At the heart of this endeavor is Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology, albeit despite the name, not fully autonomous yet. Each vehicle in the program still has a safety driver behind the wheel, prepared to take control if anything goes awry. As Tesla itself points out in its marketing materials, “Safety driver is present to supervise and only intervene as necessary.”. FSD (Supervised) doesn’t autonomous the vehicle autonomous.” Riders are already riding standard Model 3 and Model Y cars, which have been equipped with rear-seat displays for displaying arrival estimates, tuning music and climate, and employing an emergency stop button if necessary.
Tesla’s deployment looks like what others in the autonomous sector have done. Waymo, for instance, also started with staff employee testing before expanding to invite a few public members. However, there’s one thing that stands out: Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise are already operating fully self-driving vehicles in some U.S. cities. Tesla, at least for the time being, is retaining a human driver.
CEO Elon Musk has stated unequivocally that he views autonomous cars as the future of Tesla. In a recent earnings call, he stated he expects self-driving technology to play a significant role in Tesla’s bottom line by late 2026. He also forecast that by that time, millions of Teslas will be running without drivers and that the company will start rapidly scaling up its robotaxi service shortly after its initial deployment.
Currently, the company is relying on its existing Model 3 and Model Y fleet for the pilot program, but it has a specially designed autonomous vehicle in development, known as the Cybercab. Tesla anticipates production of the Cybercab to start in 2026. Meanwhile, the emphasis is on demonstrating that the ride-hailing model will be feasible with the vehicles currently in circulation.
Investors and analysts are watching closely. They want to know more about how expensive the service could be, if it will be profitable, and—most of all—how safe it is. Blake Anderson, an associate portfolio manager at Carson Group, was stressing transparency, especially regarding how often Tesla’s cars drop out of self-driving mode and what they are doing to keep passengers safe. These are the questions Tesla will have to answer if it hopes to convince regulators, investors, and the public.
Tesla’s FSD Supervised ride-hailing pilot provides a real taste of what the future of transportation could look like. While there’s still a long way to go before robotaxis are ubiquitous, every test drive in Austin and the Bay Area brings that future a little closer.
