Despite Tesla’s recently launched Robotaxi service clogging up roads in Austin and drawing the attention of federal regulators, the electric automaker threw caution to the wind yet again and took another step into the unknowns of autonomous driving. Tesla posted a video on Saturday showcasing a Model Y delivering itself from the factory to a customer’s apartment complex with a 15-mile drive across Austin, Texas. However, the drive itself wasn’t entirely legal.
Tesla posted the 30-minute drive in its entirety online, but the monumental finale fell flat as the electric SUV came to a stop along a curb painted bright red with lettering that read “No Parking, Fire Lane.” Elon Musk claimed that the Model Y completed the first-ever driverless delivery without any remote assistance. The claim could be accurate, but Tesla was also monitoring the vehicle throughout the entire drive. A Cybertruck with a bed-mounted camera rig followed the SUV to record exterior shots, and a Tesla representative waited with the customer at the destination.
The driverless delivery was nothing more than a marketing stunt
The delivered Model Y was equipped with the software used by Robotaxi’s Model Ys and downgraded back to the commercially available code once it reached its customers, according to TechCrunch. While the feat of driverless delivery is impressive at first glance, it’s not replicable unless Tesla is going to send an employee to every customer to prepare its vehicles for consumer use. At that point, you might as well just have the employee drive the car. The drive appears to be a marketing stunt aimed at fueling the excitement among investors about the company’s future, despite flagging sales.
Even if the Robotaxi self-driving software is better than what’s available, it’s still not bulletproof. Footage has circulated on social media of a Robotaxi driving at 35 miles per hour in a 30 mph zone. Other videos show a hired Model Y weaving across a double-yellow line into the opposite lane and passengers struggling to get their hired Model Y to pull over. In one case, the SUV simply stopped in the middle of the road. Musk promised that his so-called driverless cars would be better than us squishy humans behind the wheel. Tesla continuously promises a better tomorrow to distract from the failure to deliver exceptional vehicles today.
