Tesla moved its “robotaxi” to the Bay Area and put a driver in the driver’s seat

Tesla’s overhype machine continues to turn out the hits.

Earlier this month, when asked about Tesla’s autonomous ride service, CEO Elon Musk said the company’s limited Austin robotaxi service would be expanding to the Bay Area, pending regulatory approvals. Tesla doesn’t have those permits yet and correspondence between the company and California’s autonomous DMV branch viewed by Politico never use the word “robotaxi.” Tesla and Musk have made an announcement, nonetheless.

Today Musk said, “You can now ride-hail a Tesla in the SF Bay Area, in addition to Austin.” Pay attention to the language. People can now use Tesla’s Robotaxi app to ride-hail a Tesla. That Tesla will have a person in the driver’s seat touching the steering wheel. In other words, you can pay for a person to drive you around in a Tesla, using the company’s supervised full self-driving software, which requires a driver to be in the seat, notably, and hold the wheel. That’s a far cry from true autonomous driving and something that basically already exists if you were to get in an Uber or a consumer’s Tesla that has enabled supervised full self-driving in the state.

Below is a video posted yesterday from Tesla influencer Teslaconomics. Using the Robotaxi app, he summoned a Tesla with a driver in the driver’s seat. You’ll see the driver’s hands remain hovering on or near the steering wheel the whole time. It doesn’t have Robotaxi signage.

Also, the “you” who can now ride-hail in this case seems to mean friends and family of Tesla employees, or invited members of the public. The automaker’s Austin service was similarly not fully open to all potential customers. The Austin service was also not fully autonomous driving. Under the program Tesla operates there, a safety monitor who can stop the vehicle sits in the front passenger seat for every ride, and tele-operators can take over remotely.