Elon Musk Is 'Gambling' With Robotaxi, Says Expert Casting Doubt On Its Scalability And Tech Prowess—'Distraction From The Declining Sales'
Elon Musk‘s Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is facing safety concerns as it expands its autonomous ride-hailing service in Austin, Texas, spurring doubts if the robotaxi service is scalable.
What Happened: Joe Tegtmeyer, a Tesla owner, had a close call when his autonomous vehicle tried to cross a railroad illegally. Despite the incident, Tegtmeyer supports the idea of more Tesla vehicles on the road to decrease wait times, reported Fortune.
Check out the current price of TSLA stock here.
Elias Martinez, an early Full Self-Driving beta tester, voiced concerns about the software’s readiness. He contends that the technology “nowhere near robust” to accommodate the 10,000 cars Musk suggested were theoretically feasible.
Martinez, who also runs the FSD Community Tracker, a platform for data collection and analysis of Tesla’s self-driving technology, stated that the more cars added, the higher the risk of a collision. He asserted that for any robotaxi service, including Tesla's, to scale safely, it must operate with near-perfect reliability.
He noted that even with substantial improvements over the past four years, the software continues to display serious problems, including running red lights and driving on the wrong side of the road.
He believes Tesla prioritized meeting Musk's June launch deadline over refining the technology, as falling EV demand and the Cybertruck's flop left the CEO needing to reassure investors.
"This feels like a distraction from the declining sales numbers," Martinez stated, adding "Elon is gambling."
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Why It Matters: Despite the concerns, Musk announced that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system would see a “step change improvement” as the company integrates Robotaxi upgrades into its production models.
Furthermore, Gary Black of Future Fund LLC had pointed out that Tesla holds a significant advantage over Robotaxi rivals such as Alphabet Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Waymo and Amazon.com Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Zoox. He emphasized that every Tesla robotaxi produced is ready for deployment right out of the factory.
This development was expected to significantly enhance Tesla’s self-driving technology, but the recent safety concerns raise questions about the readiness of the technology for such a major upgrade.
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