Austin (Reuters)-After Tesla Model without driver was seen in the streets of Austin, Texas, Sunday morning, the director general Elon Musk published on his social platform X that the “launch of robot-taxis” of Tesla would start this afternoon with trips for a flat price of $ 4.20.

A Reuters witness saw several Tesla “robot-taxi” on Sunday morning in a popular district of the Texas capital called South Congress, without anyone in the driver’s seat but with a person in the passenger seat.

Tesla has planned that the front passengers play the role of “safety monitors”, even if the degree of control they would have on vehicles is not clear. Driver -free teslas videos have also been broadcast on social networks, but it is not known if vehicles carry passengers.

As we approach the scheduled date for the launch of the robot-taxi, Texan legislators have decided to adopt rules on autonomous vehicles in the state. The Governor of Texas, the Republican Greg Abbott, has signed a law requiring a permit in the State for the driving of autonomous vehicles.

The law will not come into force until September 1, but the fact that the governor approved it on Friday that state representatives, whatever their party, want the driver -free vehicle industry to be cautious. At the start of the week, a group of State Democratic legislators asked Tesla to delay (link) her robot-taxi test project because of the law.

Tesla did not respond to requests for comments. The governor’s office refused to comment.

The LoiSouplits the anti -regulatory position of the State on autonomous vehicles (link). A 2017 Texan law specifically prohibited cities from regulating autonomous cars.

In recent days, Tesla has sent invitations to a selected group of Tesla online influencers for a small, carefully controlled robot-taxi test, which, depending on the company, would include 10 or 20 model vehicles operated there in a limited area in Austin.

The law requires that the operators of autonomous vehicles obtain the approval of the Department of Motorized Vehicles of Texas before circulating on the public road without human driver. It also gives state authorities the power to withdraw permits if they consider that a driverless vehicle “endangers the public”, and requires companies that they provide information on how the police and the first stakeholders can manage their driver -free vehicles in emergency situations.

The conditions required by law to obtain an operating permit for an “automated motorized vehicle” are not particularly expensive, but require that a company attests that it can operate in complete safety in compliance with the law.

The law defines an automated vehicle as having at least an autonomous driving capacity of “level 4” according to a recognized standard, which means that it can lead itself without human driver under specific conditions, for example in a limited area.

The level 5 of autonomy is the highest level and means that a car can drive alone anywhere, under any conditions.

Compliance remains much easier than in certain states, including California, which requires the presentation of a large number of data relating to vehicle tests under state control.

Elon Musk’s commitments in terms of security

The launch of Tesla’s robot-taxi, whose company warned that it could be delayed, comes after more than a decade of unwarmed promises on the part of the director general Elon Musk to deliver self-edirigited teslas.

According to numerous analysts in the sector, most of Tesla’s market value, which has reached summits (link), is now based on its ability to provide robot-taxis and humanoid robots. Tesla is by far the most rated car manufacturer in the world.

Musk said Tesla would be “super paranoid” in security for deployment in Austin. The company has planned to operate only in the areas it considers to be the safest.

The service in Austin will also be subject to other restrictions. Tesla plans to avoid bad weather, difficult intersections, and will not transport anyone under the age of 18. Musk said he was ready to delay the launch for security reasons, if necessary.

The planned launch has aroused the enthusiasm of Tesla fans.

“We are going to ride in driverless teslas in a few days. On public roads,” posted Omar Qazi, which has 635,200 followers on X, often written on Tesla using the pseudonym @wholemarsblog, and received an invitation.

The marketing of autonomous vehicles has been risky and expensive. GM Cruise was closed after a fatal accident and regulators closely monitor Tesla and its rivals, Waymo of Alphabet, which operates a paid robot-taxi service in several American cities, and Amazon Zoox.

Tesla also goes against the standard practice of young industry which consists in relying on multiple technologies to read the road, using only cameras. According to Elon Musk, this method will be safe and much less expensive than the Lidar and Radar systems added by competitors.

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