Photo Credit: Getty Images
Tesla's Model Y robotaxi began operations this weekend, sending the electric vehicle maker's stock soaring 8% on Monday. The autonomous ride service launched in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, initially serving a limited number of invited riders. These early adopters included Tesla enthusiasts, promoters, and shareholders, many of whom actively create Tesla- and Musk-related content on social media platforms such as X and YouTube.
CEO Elon Musk said in a post on his social network X that customers were charged a flat fee of $4.20 per ride.
"Super congratulations to the @Tesla_AI software & chip design teams on a successful @Robotaxi launch!! Culmination of a decade of hard work. Both the AI chip and software teams were built from scratch within Tesla," he said in a post.
One passenger in Tesla's early access program for the Model Y robotaxis wrote on X that they did 11 rides with the service with "zero issues." Musk reposted numerous firsthand encounters with the services.
Other road users and researchers observed the robotaxis appearing to violate traffic rules in Austin.
The Verge reported a Tesla Model Y robotaxi briefly traveled the wrong way down a road in Austin. Tesla-critical author Ed Niedermeyer shared a video from Austin showing a Tesla robotaxi braking hard in the middle of traffic in response to "stationary police vehicles outside its driving path."
Musk has long promised a Tesla robotaxi fleet to investors, amping up the pressure to deliver in recent months.
Once considered a pioneer, Tesla is now trying to catch up to Alphabet's Waymo in the West, and Chinese competitors including Baidu's Apollo Go, WeRide and Pony.ai. Waymo has reported that it is now delivering more than 250,000 commercial driverless rides per week and surpassed 10 million trips last month. Apollo Go reported that it has surpassed 11 million trips.
Musk told CNBC's David Faber last month that Tesla aims to have "hundreds of thousands, if not over a million" self-driving cars in the U.S. by the end of next year. In May, Musk first announced plans to launch the service in Austin, with later debuts set for Los Angeles and San Francisco.
