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3 hours ago
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Watch this video of Tesla’s Robotaxi, and let me know what you think:
In a 22 minute drive, I saw:
- 7:10: The Robotaxi starts to attempt a left-hand turn, freaks out and aborts the turn, and then drives against traffic to the next turn.
You can hear traffic honking at them, and man, that steering wheel jerking around like that DOES NOT inspire my confidence. I would be getting out at the next safe opportunity to do so.
- 20:41: The Robotaxi signals a left-hand turn at a stop sign, only to go straight and flummox everyone.
That is not how turn signals work. - 21:44: The Robotaxi drops off the rider while blocking a red curb for about 30 seconds.
Those are for firefighters only in Austin TX… it’s basically a fire lane.
All told, these early rider videos are a mess. This isn’t beta testing. It’s stress testing… and the autonomous tech is failing the test.
Broad Daylight, Clear Skies: It’ll Never Be Easier to Not Mess Up
Important context here: Tesla’s self-driving system is based entirely on cameras. No LiDAR, no radar, just optical sensors.
So what you’re seeing in this video? This is the car operating in ideal conditions. Broad daylight, bone-dry pavement, no construction zones or other temporary signage.
This is easy mode. And the Robotaxi is worryingly incompetent in easy mode.
See the Safety Operator *Almost* Stop the Ride
Now let’s look at a different timestamp… 15:00, when a very human-driven SUV pulls one of the dumbest moves you’ll see this week. It starts a left turn, aborts it, then cuts across the Tesla’s lane like it’s trying to self-nominate for a Darwin Award.
But look closely. See the Tesla employee in the passenger seat? His hand hovers over a tiny red button on the touchscreen interface. If I had to guess, I’d say that’s the emergency stop.
And if I were designing an app that could stop a two-ton robot car from plowing into a crowd, I would make that button super huge. But what do I know? I don’t design cars for the nation’s most lethal car company.
There is one small consolation: the guy’s other hand is resting on the door handle with a thumb on the open-door button. That’s not just nerves. Opening the door forcibly disengages FSD. So if the Robotaxi jumps a curb or starts driving over something it shouldn’t, the door becomes a jerry-rigged kill switch.
The touch screen will be a nightmare to press in bumpy conditions, but at least the door handle is a handle, and you can find the button by memory. A small consolation for bad design.
So… This Is Day One?
We’re not even a full day into Tesla’s Robotaxi pilot in Austin, and the car is already:
- Driving against traffic
- Delivering masterful fake-outs by using its turn signals to drive straight
- Blocking the firefighter-only parking
- Requiring active human supervision to not crash
Waymo cars have been operating for years in Phoenix and San Francisco with nowhere near this frequency of visible failures. But hey, those cars had to go through months of rigorous safety testing.
Elon’s bet on safe autonomous ride-sharing was always a moonshot. But now, the “safe” part is looking more distant than ever.
Edit: Wow, I guess the NHTSA is also watching these videos with great interest. Bloomberg reports that the NHTSA have formally asked Tesla for an explanation of the Robotaxi behavior that the government has observed in online videos today, even specifically citing the video linked above!
Could that mean we have a reader over at the NHTSA? How exciting! – Kay
