After long-delayed Tesla robotaxis finally launch in Austin, TX, and five Waymos are found burned to the ground and covered in graffiti, the question comes up. Will self-driving vehicles be allowed to stay on our roads?
The answer is apparently yes, but it will continue to take much longer than had been expected.
Tesla launched a limited version of its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas on Sunday to mark a significant milestone in the company’s goal to become the autonomous driving leader. Social media postings have shown pictures of the self-driving vehicles with a “RoboTaxi” insignia on a side door of the test vehicles. It’s expected that 12 to 20 of these self-driving Model Ys will be in the test fleet for now.
These autonomous vehicles are equipped with an advanced version of the company’s Full Self-Driving software. The vehicles feature a camera-based sensor suite empowered by AI, which is different from many competitors that use additional sensors like Lidar and radar. While fully autonomous, Tesla has opted to include a safety monitor or Tesla employee in the front passenger seat for the immediate future. The driver’s seat will remain empty during rides.
CEO Elon Musk said that the vehicles will stick to specific geo-fenced neighborhoods as the company takes a cautious approach. Even though the electric vehicle maker for years has been manufacturing all its vehicles with the capacity to be switched over to fully autonomous vehicles, it’s been taking a cautious approach lately.
Automakers have been careful since a pedestrian was hit and killed in Tempe, Arizona, in March 2018. That incident was caused during an Uber autonomous vehicle test run. General Motors put its Cruise autonomous ride service on hold since high-profile collisions in its Chevrolet Bolt-based electric autonomous cars led California to revoke Cruise’s testing permits in late 2023, which halted Cruise operations.
Most recently, five Waymo vehicles were set on fire in downtown Los Angeles during anti-ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) protests on Sunday, June 8. Waymo, the autonomous ride-hailing service owned by Alphabet (Google), suspended its operations in downtown Los Angeles after the incidents. The Waymo vehicles, which are Jaguar I-PACE electric SUVs, were vandalized, with windows smashed, tires slashed, and anti-ICE slogans spray-painted on them.
On June 9, the company said it suspended some service “out of an abundance of caution.” The company said in a statement that it has “no reason to believe” it was specifically targeted. Waymo suspended service in the protest area until it will be deemed safe, a Waymo spokesperson added.
Waymo applied for a permit to test its robotaxis in New York City under human supervision, according to The Rideshare Guy. New York State’s current regulations do not allow commercial autonomous vehicle operations, so the company will continue to collect data with human drivers starting next month. Waymo previously ran tests in NYC in 2021 under the same parameters. New York City currently lacks any permits for commercial autonomous rideshare, with state law also barring such services.
Tesla wants to join the market
Musk called the project launch in Austin the “culmination of a decade of hard work” in a post on his social-media site X. Teslas were first seen this weekend in a neighborhood called South Congress with no one in the driver’s seat and one person in the passenger seat. The rides are being offered for a flat fee of $4.20, Musk said on X.
A new Texas law will take effect on September 1 requiring autonomous-vehicle operators to get approval from the Texas Dept. of Motor Vehicles before operating on public streets without a human driver. The state can revoke permits to autonomous vehicle operators they deem a public danger. It’s being placed at “Level 4” autonomous-driving capability, which means the vehicle can operate with no human driver under specified conditions. Level 5 is the top level, meaning a vehicle can drive itself anywhere, under any conditions.
Austin is becoming a hotbed of autonomous vehicle deployment, as the New York Times reported recently. In addition to Waymo and now Tesla, the city has seen the deployment of autonomous vehicles from Amazon’s Zoox, Volkswagen, and the startup Avride.
Cutting EV tax credits: The Trump administration and Republican Congressional leaders are taking steps to end the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit, Automotive News reports. Congressional committee heads will have to work out whether the cutoff date comes at the end of 2026 or earlier than that. It’s been part of a sweeping tax and budget proposal in the House and Senate. It will be part of a broad look at similar legislative actions like cutting federal incentives tied to renewable energy and to electric vehicles. The $4,000 tax credit for used EVs is also being looked into.
China’s control of rare-earth minerals: During the tariff trade war between the U.S. and China, things got worse with rare-earth materials, of which China sources 92% to the global market. After President Donald Trump slapped a 145% tariff structure on China, that country lashed back with its own tariff increase, as well as curbing the sale of strategic U.S. technology including semiconductor chips, and restricting the export of rare earth elements. Automakers across the U.S., Japan, South Korea, Germany and India have warned the shortages may force factories to halt production. Electric vehicles rely on actuators and permanent rare-earth magnets, among other materials. Vehicles with internal-combustion engines are also heavily reliant on rare-earth materials. Now there are many incentives in place for the U.S. and other countries to find alternatives to rare-earth minerals that come from China.
