This week, Tesla launched its long-promised robotaxi service in Austin, and almost immediately its vehicles were caught fucking up.
In a YouTube video, a Tesla robotaxi briefly drives on the wrong side of the road. Another video shared by Ed Niedermeyer, the author of a book about Tesla’s origins, shows a robotaxi braking hard in the middle of the road in response to stationary police vehicles that were not in its immediate driving path. And a third captures a robotaxi dropping off its passengers in the middle of a busy intersection.
Typically, when a driverless vehicle makes a mistake or is involved in a crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launches an investigation. And that’s just what happened yesterday, when the agency released a statement to Bloomberg that said it was reviewing the incident and would „take any necessary actions to protect road safety.“
Driving in the wrong lane, braking hard in the middle of the road, dropping passengers off in the middle of an intersection
That may leave you with the impression that Tesla has been put on notice. One more mistake, one more close call, and NHTSA will bring the smackdown. Except that’s not really what …