Tesla moved a step closer to her intention to operate a Fleet of Autonomous Robotaxis on Tuesday when California regulators gave Elon Musk’s electric car a license to start traveling to the state.
The permit is a prerequisite to apply to operate an autonomous travel service to California, but a CPUC spokesman said the current permit “does not authorize them to provide travel” in autonomous vehicles, and does not allow Tesla to operate a travel service to the public.
Instead, the limited license issued by the California Public Services Commission gives Tesla permission to transport its employees using Tesla -owned vehicles on a predetermined basis.
Tesla’s stock – which has been blocked with weeks of punitive losses that have reduced its value for nearly half – increased by nearly 4% from 1:30 in the afternoon ET Wednesday.
While this authorization is an initial action towards Tesla’s long -term goal of setting a fleet of car themselves, it is just one of the many approval the company will need before technology is available to the public in California.
Waymo, a branch of Google Alphabet’s parent company, remains the only company that offers autonomous trips to the public to California.
Her early competitor, Cruise, previously offered self-driving taxi services mainly in the San Francisco Bay area, but a series of accidents involving vehicles pushed state regulators to suspend his permit at the end of 2023.
More than a year later, Cruise General Motors decided to terminate its investments in the Robotaxi program after spending over $ 10 billion since its purchase in 2016.
Tesla has long been seen as a potential main contender in the autonomous vehicle industry.
Musk has expressed confidence in the financial impact of robots taxi, stating that they can add trillions of dollars to the Tesla market estimate.
Despite the optimism on the autonomous ambitions of the company’s management, Tesla’s shares have faced the latest wars.
Tesla was the beneficiary of a “Trump Bump” after the election, when the price of its shares increased to a high height of nearly $ 480 per share in mid -December.
But Musk’s active role in reducing the federal bureaucracy and its proximity to President Trump, as well as his research by far-right parties in Europe, have put a trace in the sales of the company.
Since mid -December, Tesla’s shares have lost nearly 60% of its value. Since Wednesday afternoon, she has been trading about $ 235 per action.
Musk’s hug for politics Maga has also sparked a redness of vandalism and arson attacks against Tesla vehicles and car dealers across the country in recent weeks.
In October, the company discovered a prototype of its predicted autonomous vehicle to which Musk refers to as a “cybercab”.
Just a month later, Tesla submitted a request for the newly provided travel service permit.
However, the company has not yet applied for additional regulatory approval needed to operate a commercial robot taxi service in the state.
Musk has suggested that Texas may be the first location where Tesla places her robot taxis – with a possible start in June.
Unlike California, Texas has relatively relaxed rules surrounding autonomous vehicles, making it a more favorable environment for initial testing.
In December 2021, Tesla officially transferred her corporate headquarters from Palo Alto, Calif., To Austin, Texas, after Musk bitterly criticized the California regulators for placing factories during the pandemia.
Waymo has already introduced its own taxes to the public in Austin this month, signaling increasing competition in the sector.
For Tesla to legally operate autonomous taxis on public roads in California, the company must receive additional approval from both the CPUC and the State Vehicle Department.
CPUC supervises traveling for renting such as Uber and Lyft while DMV is responsible for assessing vehicle safety-an important regulatory obstacle for any company seeking to introduce self-driving technology.
Tesla has been the subject of regulatory control over its security-especially record-finding record as it belongs to its full self-direction technology (FSD).
Last fall, the National Traffic Safety Administration on the highway launched an investigation after an incident in which a Tesla driver used to use the advanced Driver Aid System that enables semi-autonomous driving on the city’s highways and roads and killed a pedestrian.
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