Tesla is collaborating with the City of Austin, its new home base, to explore the deployment of self-driving cars. However, Tesla first needs to deliver on creating fully autonomous vehicles.
According to a new Bloomberg report, Tesla has been in contact with Austin officials about the requirements to deploy self-driving cars in the city:
Emails acquired by Bloomberg through public records requests show a Tesla employee has been communicating with the city of Austin’s autonomous vehicle task force since at least May to establish safety expectations for the vehicles as the company decides if Austin will be the first Texas city where Tesla deploys driverless fleets.
Tesla has initiated similar discussions with other cities, such as Palo Alto, following the unveiling of its steering wheel-less Cybercab and its announcement to achieve full autonomy by the end of Q2 2025. The company plans to launch its first autonomous services in California and Texas.
While California leads in self-driving technology with a well-established approval process for autonomous rideshare services, it imposes strict safety standards and data reporting through the state DMV. Tesla has frequently clashed with the DMV, attempting to bypass data reporting requirements for its Full Self-Driving (FSD) program.
In contrast, Texas offers a more lenient environment for Tesla’s self-driving ambitions. The state treats autonomous vehicles like standard vehicles, requiring only adherence to traffic laws, video recording capabilities, insurance, and licensing from the Texas Department of Licensing. Unlike California, Texas doesn’t require data proving the technology is safer than human drivers.
This regulatory flexibility is advantageous for Tesla, especially as current crowdsourced data indicates that Tesla’s self-driving system achieves only 100 to 200 miles between critical disengagements.
