Transportation Archive

Last month, Bloomberg reported that the launch would be July 12th. But Tesla never confirmed it, and now Musk is saying the long-awaited robotaxi service will “tentatively” kick off in Austin, Texas, on June 22nd. (An X user spotted one of the first driverless Teslas in the city earlier this week.) Musk also claimed that a Tesla vehicle will drive itself from the factory to a customer’s home for the first time on June 28th.

You might recognize this TeslaVision campaign seeking fan-submitted ads as a callback to the Project Loveday contest from 2017 (that was the year the Model 3 started shipping, but the new Roadster and Semi did not).

A Tesla Model Y with no one behind the steering wheel was spotted driving through Austin recently, according to a video posted to X and noticed by InsideEVs. The video was also reposted by Tesla’s head of autonomy, Ashok Elluswamy, who wrote “Slowly slowly at first, then …” seemingly confirming its authenticity. The Model Y also has “Robotaxi” written in Tesla’s notoriously difficult-to-read Cybertruck font on the passenger door. Bloomberg previously reported that the company’s robotaxi service was set to launch this week on June 12th, though the automaker has yet to formally confirm the date.

According to 9 to 5 Mac, the company said during WWDC that it would soon support digital car keys from 13 additional vehicle brands, including Audi, Cadillac, Chevy, Hyundai, Kia, GMC, Volvo, Rivian, and others. That brings the total number of brands supported to 33. The keys are added to the Wallet app, and can be used to lock, unlock, and start the vehicle using technology like NFC, UWB, or BLE — depending on which are supported by the vehicle.

Uber and one of the ridehail company’s many robotaxi partners, Wayve, announced today that they will begin testing Level 4 autonomous vehicles in London on public roads as soon as 2026. The timing coincides with the UK Secretary of State for Transport’s announcement of “an accelerated framework for self-driving commercial pilots, following the Automated Vehicles Act becoming law last month. Trials have been underway for a while, but always with a safety driver in the front seat. Now the companies can remove the driver from the vehicle, but in doing so they will accept full liability if the vehicle crashes.

At least five of Alphabet’s autonomous cars have been set on fire, according to the New York Times, as protesters rage against the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. “We will not be serving any rides in the protest area until it is deemed safe,” a Waymo spokesperson said.

An update on how the extremely public political breakup is going today, as protestors face off with federal immigration agents in Los Angeles.

It’s the closest we’re likely to get to a global release for Xiaomi’s souped up EV, which last year set a record lap time for a four-door car at the Nürburgring, albeit using a stripped-out prototype to do so. There’s no release date just yet for the car’s addition to Gran Turismo 7 though.