Tesla Extends Robotaxi Hours

Tesla has extended its Robotaxi operating hours in Austin by an hour, with the service now available until 11pm. Elon Musk confirmed the change, saying the company is still working to solve the problem of detecting pets on the road at night.

Musk described the challenge as trying to avoid 'grey kittens on grey tarmac in the dark'. He said the company is being 'extremely careful with autonomous safety', just as it is with making Teslas the safest cars in the world for human driving.

The Cybercab fleet in Austin is growing quickly, with 111 new vehicles added over the past two weeks. The total number of Cybercabs registered to operate in Austin now stands at 169, nearly four times the number registered at launch.

Tesla is still targeting 24/7 Robotaxi operations, which could coincide with the release of FSD v15 on Robotaxi vehicles. The company has not reported any major issues with the service since rides began a month ago.

The European Union's Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles will vote on bloc-wide approval of Tesla's driver assistance software on 6 October. The software, known as FSD Supervised, is Level 2 and requires the driver to stay liable.

Tesla's use of cameras to detect hazards on the road has raised concerns about safety, particularly at night. The company dropped radar in 2021 and ultrasonic sensors in 2022, and has never shipped lidar.

Other companies, such as Waymo, use a combination of cameras, lidar, and radar to detect hazards. Waymo's sixth-generation cars carry 13 cameras, four lidars, and six radars, and its driverless vehicles run around the clock.