Tesla says it delivered its first car autonomously from factory to customer
- Tesla has successfully delivered its first fully autonomous vehicle from factory to customer, marking a significant milestone for the company’s Full Self-Driving system.
- The autonomous Tesla Model Y was driven on highways, passing through suburban sprawl and residential neighborhoods without any human intervention or remote operators in control.
- This achievement is notable, especially considering the rocky rollout of Tesla’s robotaxi service, which has faced safety concerns and regulatory issues.
- Tesla’s success demonstrates that its Full Self-Driving system is getting closer to Musk’s promise of “unsupervised” driving, but still requires human oversight when a passenger is present in the vehicle.
- The company’s achievement paves the way for further development and testing of autonomous vehicles, potentially leading to increased confidence in the technology’s ability to handle complex driving scenarios without human intervention.
This might be a bigger deal than the robotaxis.
Tesla said it completed its first fully autonomous vehicle delivery from factory to customer. A video posted on X shows the vehicle — a Tesla Model Y — leaving the company’s Austin Gigafactory, driving on the highway, passing through suburban sprawl and residential neighborhoods, before arriving at a customer’s apartment building.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk had promised the first fully autonomous delivery would take place on June 28th. But on Friday, he announced that the milestone had been achieved a day early.
“There were no people in the car at all and no remote operators in control at any point. FULLY autonomous!” Musk wrote on X. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fully autonomous drive with no people in the car or remotely operating the car on a public highway.”
That last part isn’t accurate. Waymo has been operating fully driverless vehicles with passengers on the highway for over a year. The vehicles, which are driving on freeways in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, are only available to employees of the company, with the goal of opening them up to the public at a later date.
But Tesla’s achievement is still notable, especially when you consider the rocky rollout of the company’s robotaxi service. The robotaxis launched with safety monitors in the passenger seat with access to a kill switch, and within a few days, the vehicles were recorded committing several safety lapses, including driving over the double-yellow line into the opposite lane of traffic and hard braking in the middle of the road for no apparent reason.
By proving it can operate fully autonomous vehicles on highways without a safety monitor present in the vehicle, Tesla is able to demonstrate that its Full Self-Driving system is getting closer to Musk’s promise of “unsupervised” driving. The robotaxis aren’t quite there yet, still requiring safety monitors and remote supervisors. That leaves Tesla in limbo between confidence that its technology can handle the driving without anyone in the vehicle, but less confident when there’s a human being riding inside.
Update, June 28th: Added Tesla’s 30-minute “long version” of the trip.