Technology

Tesla wants to bring robotaxis to San Francisco. Here’s what’s standing in the way.

Tesla launches a limited version more than the early Robotaxi service in San Francisco this weekend, according to Business Insider, after starting initially running last month in Austin, Texas.

The company plans to send invitations to Tesla owners to test the service, according to the report.

Depending on how Tesla, and if Tesla continues, its actions can violate state regulations – and even if there is a human safety driver sitting behind the wheel while its cars work independently.

Two government agents organize aspects of autonomous vehicles in California. The California Ministry of Cars is organizing a test and deployment of autonomous vehicles, and requires permits for all three stages: test with a driver, a driver without a driver, and a driver’s deployment.

Tesla maintains a permit to test autonomous vehicles with the human safety operator behind the steering wheel. It has no driver testing or publishing permit. Until Wednesday, he has not yet applied for additional permits, according to DMV. (Mercedes-Benz, Nuro and Waymo are the only three companies that carry a driver without driver.)

Tesla also does not have appropriate permits from the California Public Utilities Committee, which regulates the commercial aspects of riding and transportation rented by humans as well as those directed by independent vehicle systems.

CPUC spokesman Terry Bruce, Terry Prosper, spoke spokesperson, told Techcrunch in an email, Tesla has a permit for the Transport Recreational Party, which allows the human driver to drive a traditional car (not AV) for rental services with the public.

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This is clearly different from a separate vehicle’s permit to transport passengers, according to Prosper. The so -called AV licenses, which are not owned by Tesla, allows the testing and deployment of autonomous vehicles with or without a driver.

Tesla did not get a CPUC approval to provide an independent passenger service to customers, paid or unpaid, with or without a driver (the company was not applied), as PROSPER explained in the email. Tesla also does not carry “CPUC’s experimental statement”, so he cannot even use an independent vehicle with a human operator behind the wheel to serve passengers.

This means that if Tesla is published their robots, independent systems work, it will contradict the state’s regulations even if the ride is free and there is a human safety operator behind the wheel.

The batch comes to California, where DMV is currently trying to prevent Tesla from selling vehicles in the state as part of a year that lasted for a year on the promises that the company has made about its cars capabilities. Tesla is also currently trial in a lawsuit for deaths using the lower -capacity driver auxiliary system for it, Autopilot.

Tesla must also prove that its full self -driving programs can be used to run the Robotaxi network. While the company has been running an invitation version only from the ROBOTAXI service in Austin since June 22, it was far from what MUSK spent years in thickening.

The service is often limited to the Austin corridors in the city center and the main corridors. There is a safety operator in the front passenger seat that can intervene if the car is about to do something wrong or dangerous. Although the service that was launched with about 10 vehicles, it is not clear that the number of the Model SUVs in the city, nor is it clear that the safety operators were forced to intervene.

This is far from the “general solution” that Musk said if Tesla was working on it for a decade. Musk was very confident in the independent program that was developing it, saying that it would take a car from Los Angeles to New York – a trick that has never happened. Musk said this week that Tesla was also trying to expand in Florida and Arizona. TECHRUNCH said earlier this month that Tesla had started the certification process required to test and work with or without a driver in Arizona.

Update: This story has been updated to include new information from CPUC.

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2025-07-25 23:41:00

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