Elon Musk recently announced that Tesla is operating robotaxis in Austin, Texas, without safety monitors inside the cars. While this statement sparked controversy, it appears to be a literal interpretation of the situation.
In reality, the robotaxis are accompanied by separate chase cars, which are equipped with safety monitors. This arrangement was revealed through video footage shared by a robotaxi user and reported on by Electrek.
The presence of spotters was not widely publicized at first, but it has now come to light. Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) suite has made significant progress in recent updates, enabling users to see the reliability promised by Elon Musk nearly a decade ago.
3, introduced a new feature called TOI Recovery, which allows the software to continuously attempt to recover from errors on its own. This has led to fewer disengagements and improved confidence levels in FSD.
However, even with this improvement, there are still limits to what FSD can do without human intervention, making safety monitors necessary. The arrangement of having separate chase cars with safety monitors accompanying the robotaxis is likely expensive but may be justifiable given Tesla's capabilities.
While Tesla's progress in Full Self-Driving has been significant, there are still concerns about the reliability and safety of autonomous vehicles without human intervention. The use of separate chase cars with safety monitors to accompany robotaxis is a necessary precaution to ensure public safety.
