Tesla claimed its robotaxi launch went perfectly on Sunday. Videos tell a different story about what really happened. The NHTSA reached out to Tesla after seeing serious traffic violations. Bloomberg reported this contact between the safety agency and the car company. Government officials appear worried about the dangerous driving incidents.
One video showed a Tesla robotaxi trying to move into the wrong lane multiple times. The car drove into traffic coming the other way. It crossed double yellow lines to get back where it belonged. Another clip caught a robotaxi going 35 mph when the speed limit was 30 mph. These mistakes happened even with safety measures in place.
Tesla put workers in the front seats of each robotaxi during the demo. These employees could hit emergency stop buttons if something went wrong. Teams of remote operators watched every trip from computers. They were supposed to take control if the cars messed up. Tesla also asked the NHTSA to keep its answers about robotaxis secret.
Tesla's self-driving system ranks as Level 2 automation. Waymo runs Level 4 systems that work much better. Waymo operates about 1,500 cars across Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin. Their vehicles use expensive sensors like LiDAR and special cameras. Tesla relies on regular cameras and computer networks instead of all those extra sensors.
One video showed a Tesla robotaxi trying to move into the wrong lane multiple times. The car drove into traffic coming the other way. It crossed double yellow lines to get back where it belonged. Another clip caught a robotaxi going 35 mph when the speed limit was 30 mph. These mistakes happened even with safety measures in place.
Tesla put workers in the front seats of each robotaxi during the demo. These employees could hit emergency stop buttons if something went wrong. Teams of remote operators watched every trip from computers. They were supposed to take control if the cars messed up. Tesla also asked the NHTSA to keep its answers about robotaxis secret.
Tesla's self-driving system ranks as Level 2 automation. Waymo runs Level 4 systems that work much better. Waymo operates about 1,500 cars across Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin. Their vehicles use expensive sensors like LiDAR and special cameras. Tesla relies on regular cameras and computer networks instead of all those extra sensors.
