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Tesla is offering passengers robotaxi rides in Austin without a human safety driver in the front seat.<\/p>\n
CEO Elon Musk<\/a> on Thursday posted on X, his social media platform: \u201cJust started Tesla Robotaxi drives in Austin with no safety monitor in the car. Congrats to the Tesla AI team!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He then made a recruitment pitch for engineers interested in \u201csolving real-world AI,\u201d which he says will \u201clikely lead to AGI\u201d to join the Tesla AI team.\u00a0<\/p>\n The automaker launched its robotaxis in the Texas city last June<\/a> in a limited deployment with a safety operator in the front passenger seat. Tesla initially offered those first rides to influencers and handpicked customers.\u00a0In December, Tesla began testing its robotaxis in Austin<\/a> without a safety driver in the front seat \u2014 a precaution in case the vehicle needs a human to take over.<\/p>\n Not all of Tesla\u2019s fleet in Austin will be fully driverless. Per Tesla\u2019s AI lead Ashok Elluswamy<\/a>, the company will be \u201cstarting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors, and the ratio will increase over time.\u201d<\/p>\n