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Following the “We, Robot” event, I lamented that Tesla didn’t roll out the one notable thing I thought they might roll out — a ridesharing app that Tesla owners (and people needing rides) could start using before robotaxis become a thing. As I noted, the following is a screenshot of the concept from 2018 (6 years ago):
Tesla ridesharing app concept from several years ago (2018).
Here’s a more recent screenshot of concepts of the app from Tesla’s 1st quarter 2024 shareholder letter:
One of the more notable things I heard on Tesla’s Q3 shareholder conference call was that Tesla does have this functionality in service already. Wait, what? Yes, it was an easy thing to miss, but they explained that Tesla has this as an option now for Tesla employees in the Bay Area of California. Employees can apparently request a ride from a Tesla “robotaxi” via the Tesla app. Naturally, there’s currently a “safety driver” who sits behind the wheel and intervenes as needed, but the key point is that they are using the app for this kind of service already, so it could be an easy thing for Tesla to roll out to other vehicle owners and people who want a ride.
Someone else who was on the call noted that Tesla has had this test ride-hailing service available to Tesla employees in the Bay Area for about a year. He also explained how different features that have been added to Tesla cars and the customer Tesla app in recent years have all been building blocks toward this. These include:
Using your same profile across cars.
Sending the navigation destination from your phone to the vehicle.
Cybersecurity improvements.
Seeing en route progress in the mobile app.
So, in theory, Tesla really is inches away from rolling this out to customers. I’d love to see it, and I’d love to trial giving people rides via my app (not using Uber or Lyft), but it seems Tesla has no intention of providing that capability until it has true robotaxi capability. Unless there is a plan but they’re keeping very quiet about it — but that’s not in Elon Musk’s nature.
A key for the company is that it is planning to roll out Tesla ride hailing in Texas and California next year when it believes it will have robotaxi testing approval in those states. The one hiccup I see there is that other companies that have that have their own employees as the test/safety drivers, whereas Tesla would seemingly request that Tesla owners be the test/safety drivers for the time being — until FSD is good enough to do it all on its own. I wonder if California regulators wouldn’t have an issue with that. But Musk seems confident it will definitely roll out in Texas either way.
What about Florida? Who knows? In theory, it could be the next state behind those two, and Musk did postulate that more states could potentially get this initial level of Tesla robotaxis or ridesharing as a service next year. Stay tuned….
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