By Norihiko Shirouzu, Chris Kirkham and Evan Garcia
DALLAS, May 12 (Reuters) – When Tesla announced an expansion of its robotaxis to Dallas and Houston last month, some investors touted momentum for CEO Elon Musk’s mission to transform the electric-vehicle maker into an AI-powered, driverless-tech giant.
Reuters reporters who recently tested Tesla’s robotaxis in those cities, however, found them to be still in a beta-testing phase. The service was plagued by long wait times and sometimes no availability at all. Drop-off spots on some rides were far away from the rider’s destination.
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
A reporter using the service in Dallas on a recent Monday afternoon spent nearly two hours to take what typically would be a 20-minute drive from the campus of Southern Methodist University to Dallas City Hall, about 5 miles (8.05 km) south on a major freeway.
At 4:55 p.m., the reporter requested a ride on the Tesla Robotaxi app, which works much like Uber, but was notified of “high service demand.” Around the same time, Uber showed an 8-minute wait for a 22-minute ride to city hall.
For the next half hour, the reporter tried booking a ride but continued to see either that high-demand message or one showing “no rides available nearby.” After 36 minutes of searching, a car showed up as available. The wait time was 19 minutes.
TECHNOLOGY THAT ‘WORKS ANYWHERE’
Much of Tesla’s $1.6 trillion market value – more than five times that of any other automaker – is tied to investors’ conviction that the company will soon unleash a vast fleet of robotaxis. Musk has said Tesla’s self-driving technology “works anywhere,” and has criticized the methodical approach of Alphabet’s Waymo, which does high-definition mapping and extensive testing before entering new markets.
Last July, Musk predicted Tesla robotaxis would serve half the population of the U.S. by the end of 2025. But the service remains confined to Dallas, Houston and Austin, where Tesla launched its first robotaxi pilot last June.
Following Tesla’s first-quarter earnings report on April 22, several analysts said the robotaxi expansion was going slower than expected. Musk said on the earnings call the company is taking a “cautious approach” to avoid injuries or fatalities.
DALLAS DROP-OFF DIFFICULTIES
After the reporter trying to travel to Dallas City Hall finally got picked up, the car opted not to take North Central Expressway, the main artery to downtown, and instead took nearly 35 minutes to travel on surface streets. The car dropped him at a parking lot a 15-minute walk from City Hall.
After the rider pushed a button for “support” inside the car, an agent responded that the area was “restricted,” even though it was inside the Dallas service area map that Tesla posted on social media last month. “We’re still in the beta version,” the agent said.
The reporter booked rides to two other locations downtown. Each time, the app showed that the car would drop off the passenger in an area that would require a walk of about 15 minutes to reach the destination. On a ride to a downtown farmers’ market, the robotaxi dropped off the reporter on the opposite side of a freeway and suggested he walk under overpasses strewn with trash and smelling of urine.
On another ride, the robotaxi failed to make a left turn four times. The turn was in front of a freeway off-ramp with “do not enter” signs — an unusual intersection that seemed to have confused the car. It instead continued straight and made right turns to double back around the block, but repeatedly missed the left turn.
The reporter described the situation to a remote attendant. Soon after, the car finally made the turn.
In Houston, Tesla is operating robotaxis in a small suburban area on the northwest side. Another Reuters reporter who recently tested the service on a weeknight was able to obtain one ride. When she tried a second time, the same car showed up as being 13 minutes away, but the app later canceled the ride.
She tried to find another car for the next 30 minutes but none were available. She ordered an Uber to her destination.
SPOTTY SERVICE IN AUSTIN
Even in Austin, where Tesla’s service has been operating for nearly a year, customers sometimes experience wait times that can exceed half an hour.
Tesla is operating about 50 vehicles in the city, according to a recent slideshow presentation by Austin officials. That compares with more than 250 Waymo vehicles in Austin.
Some of the Tesla robotaxis in Austin still have human safety monitors in the front passenger seat. Tesla said it has increased the number of fully driverless cars in Austin, but has not cited a number.
A Reuters reporter in Austin spent three weeks in April tracking wait times for Tesla robotaxis eight times a day, from morning through evening. The wait times exceeded 15 minutes about half of the time, and were at least 25 minutes on more than one-quarter of checks. In 27% of cases, no cars were available at all.
Tesla has had no major crashes in Austin and no traffic citations, according to Austin Police Lieutenant William White, who oversees autonomous-vehicle safety for the city.
Since August, Tesla has reported 15 crashes in Austin to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which autonomous-vehicle operators are required to do for even minor incidents. Most did not involve injuries; one involved someone sent to the hospital.
Unlike other autonomous-vehicle operators, Tesla has asked regulators to redact all crash information.
White said Tesla has generally been responsive to the city’s questions. One concern, he said, is that Tesla robotaxis tend to ignore posted speed limits. On test rides last year, he consistently noted the vehicles would drive 5 mph above the speed limit.
White said the company told him it was safer for the vehicles to keep up with the flow of traffic. White said he told Tesla: “At no time would we ever advocate that you program your vehicles to speed.”
(Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu in Dallas, Chris Kirkham in Los Angeles and Evan Garcia in Austin, Texas; Additional reporting by Sheila Dang in Houston; Editing by Mike Colias and Matthew Lewis)
Comments