- Those located in Austin of San Fran’s Bay Area can join a waitlist
- Android users will be supported at a later date
- Tesla expands Robotaxi service area but puts safety driver in the driver’s seat
Tesla has taken to Elon Musk’s X social media platform[1] to announce the fact that its Robotaxi smartphone app has now been opened up to anyone with an Apple[2] iPhone, as the project moves beyond a carefully curated list of VIPs and trusted Tesla early adopters to the wider public.
Fresh off the back of recent news that the company was once again expanding its presence in Austin, Texas by increasing the size of its geofenced operating area and adding more cars to the fleet, Tesla says the ride-hailing app is now open to the public.
Currently, all iPhone users in the US can download the app and sign up to join a waitlist. But it’s unclear how long it will take before users can hail a ride, whether or not the service extends beyond Austin to San Francisco or how many vehicles the company is currently running.
So far, Tesla has only publicly stated that it has increased the number of available cars by 50%, according to an X post[3] in August this year.
Tesla also states that Android users will be able to download a dedicated Robotaxi app in the coming months.
Safety in the driver’s seat
Opening up the app to the public is clearly an indicator that Tesla is serious about rapidly expanding its service, but the company has been particularly cagey about numbers and achievements.
Earlier this week, Electrek[4] reported that the company had moved its safety monitor, which sees a human employee tasked with hitting the kill switch if something goes wrong, from the passenger seat to behind the wheel.
Now Tesla has expanded its operating area beyond slow inner-city streets to faster sections of highway, it has clearly deemed it necessary to have an operator in the hot seat in case they have to take over during faster and more dangerous sections of road.
As Electrek[5] points out, Tesla Robotaxi is just a “larger-scale Full Self-Driving (FSD) demonstration ride” right now, rather than a truly autonomous taxi service.
If you want one of those, it’s best to download the Waymo app, as it has more than 2,000 fully autonomous vehicles operating in six major cities and regions in the US… without anyone behind the wheel.