Tesla Sends Out Robotaxi Early Access Invitations, Safety Monitor to Ride in Each Car

Tesla’s long-awaited autonomous taxi service is set to begin offering rides within a limited geographical area in Austin, Texas on June 22 and several social media users have posted about receiving early access invitations. The company has begun emailing select Tesla community members including vehicle owners, journalists and content creators, inviting them to participate in an “exclusive preview” of the service and provide feedback. Those who have received the emails have also posted further details about how the company plans to run its autonomous taxi operations.

Users who confirm their willingness to participate in the preview will be sent instructions to download and set up a dedicated Tesla Robotaxi app. A valid credit or debit card must be on file. They must provide a star rating after each ride.

Although the scheduled launch date is just two days away, invitees are cautioned that delays are still possible. The service will run from 6:00am to 12:00 midnight every day, subject to weather conditions. Rides must be within a geofenced area, which will be shown in the app.

Users are permitted to bring one additional passenger with them, as long as the invitee is always in the vehicle with them, and they are at least 18 years old. More interestingly, each car will have a “Tesla Safety Monitor” in the front passenger seat. 

For those worried about privacy, Tesla does say that its cars’ cabin cameras are disabled during rides unless the rider initiates a support call, an emergency situation is detected, or the rider explicitly chooses to enable them in order to share analytics with Tesla. A green dot indicator will be visible to passengers when the cameras are active. However, Tesla will use its cameras to detect whether a safety driver (if present) is paying attention to the road, and to inspect the car’s interiors after each ride to check for damage and/or any items left behind. 

Microphones are not disabled, in order to detect sound such as an ambulance siren or an accident. However, Tesla does say that audio including passengers’ conversations is processed on-board and only transmitted to the company if a support call is placed or an emergency is detected. Microphone activity is indicated by an orange dot. Like with video, users can choose to allow audio to be captured throughout their rides and used for analytics. Audio and video collected for analytics is not linked to a customer’s account.

Riders are cautioned to be respectful and courteous. Any “unsafe and/or disrespectful behaviour” might result in a user being kicked out of the Early Access programme. Tesla also reserves the right to charge “reasonable fees” to a rider’s credit or debit card if they litter, cause damage, or otherwise soil a vehicle during their ride. 

Early Access invitees are permitted to share photos and videos, so we can expect lots of social media content to be posted very shortly after the service goes live. 

The move comes less than a day after Texas politicians asked Tesla to postpone its Robotaxi plans until new laws governing autonomous vehicles come into effect in September this year. The service will use a small fleet of Model Y cars, not the dedicated “Cybercab” unveiled by CEO Elon Musk last year.