Musk: Tesla Aims to Launch Robotaxi Pilot in Austin by June's End

- Tesla plans to start testing its highly anticipated robotaxi service as scheduled in Austin, Texas, by the end of June, according to CEO Elon Musk’s statement on Tuesday. This move comes despite inquiries into safety concerns from a U.S. regulatory body.

The electric vehicle maker will roll out about 10 self-driving cars in some parts of the city, and scale up to about a thousand within a few months, Musk told CNBC in an interview.

We are actually planning to deploy only to the safest areas within the Austin region, not across the whole area.

Tesla’s global sales have declined due to increased competition and amid a backlash against Musk because of his support for right-wing politics and his involvement with former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Musk mentioned that he intends to decrease his involvement with Trump and concentrate more on Tesla. He stated, "I roughly intend to spend a few days at the White House every couple of weeks and offer help wherever possible."

A successful robotaxi pilot project is essential for Tesla because Elon Musk has redirected the company’s efforts towards deploying the robotaxi service and introducing Optimus humanoids, rather than developing a new, more affordable electric vehicle model. A significant portion of Tesla's worth relies on this strategic move.

Musk informed CNBC, "In the long run, the only things that truly matter are autonomy and Optimus."

The development of autonomous vehicle technology has proven challenging for widespread adoption due to stringent regulations and significant financial commitments, leading numerous firms to abandon their efforts. Companies like Alphabet’s Waymo, which continue to pursue this path, now confront heightened oversight.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been investigating collisions involving Tesla's full self-driving (FSD) advanced driver assistance software in reduced roadway visibility conditions since October. The U.S. road safety regulator asked Tesla last week to answer questions on its paid robotaxi service launch to assess how the cars will perform in poor weather.

Musk stated that Tesla is negotiating with prominent car manufacturers to license the Full Self-Driving software, which is anticipated to be central to their autonomous taxi service.

To fuel his larger AI ambitions, Musk’s xAI company has been increasing its data center capabilities to develop more sophisticated models. The massive supercomputing complex they’ve built in Memphis, Tennessee, known as “Colossus,” is claimed to be the biggest one globally.

xAI plans to install a million of Nvidia’s cutting-edge Blackwell processors at a newly established site close to Memphis, according to Musk. He stated, “As long as Nvidia outperforms what we can produce ourselves, we’ll continue purchasing from them.” The Greater Memphis Chamber reported in March that xAI acquired a 1-million-square-foot area in Southwest Memphis, Tennessee.

In March, Musk integrated xAI into his social media platform, X. He stated that a potential combination between Tesla and xAI was currently off the table but wasn’t entirely ruled out, although such an action would require shareholder consent.

(Akash Sriram reported from Bengaluru, Abhirup Roy from San Francisco, and Juby Babu from Mexico City; edited by Peter Henderson, Deepa Babington, and Richard Chang)

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