Tesla Launches Limited Ride-Hailing Service in Austin with Supervised FSD

Tesla is set to deploy a modest fleet of 10 to 20 Model Y vehicles in Austin, Texas, to offer ride-hailing services in geo-fenced areas, leveraging a version of its ‘Supervised Full Self-Driving’ (FSD) technology.

This rollout is expected to commence in June and marks a significant pivot from the company’s previous aspirations for unsupervised autonomy in consumer vehicles.

Instead of relying solely on fully autonomous systems, Tesla plans to incorporate teleoperations, where employees will remotely oversee the vehicles, ensuring higher safety levels in this nascent service.

Tesla’s Austin Fleet Set to Use Teleoperations Amid Autonomy Concerns

The decision to employ remote supervisors has raised eyebrows among industry analysts and consumers alike. Morgan Stanley’s Tesla analyst, Adam Jonas, who is known for his optimistic stance on the company, echoed this sentiment after a recent meeting with Tesla executives.

He emphasized that while the Austin fleet is “a go,” its size will remain limited as the company prioritizes safety and operational oversight during this trial phase. Jonas’s comments also revealed that the use of teleoperations is a strategic move to mitigate potential failures in self-driving technology.

Critics suggest that this approach serves as a distraction from Tesla’s unmet promises regarding fully autonomous driving. With the company previously marketing its vehicles as capable of self-driving without any human intervention, this shift may reflect deeper challenges in achieving that vision.

Although the upcoming service is expected to be an improvement over the current FSD system, it remains fundamentally supervised, though remotely, which some believe may underwhelm those eagerly awaiting true autonomy from Tesla.

As the June launch approaches, industry observers are left wondering if this rollout can live up to the hype, or if it will merely underscore the gap between Tesla’s ambitious claims and the reality of autonomous driving technology.