The Elon Musk company is actively pursuing infrastructure for Robotaxi, the name of its autonomous ride-hailing app. On July 21, San Antonio’s Zoning Commission voted to recommend approval of Tesla's plans to lease a site at 245 and 257 W. Josephine St. The zoning change is still subject to City Council approval.
Meanwhile, the company’s Cybercabs appear to be already on the road. A recent Reddit thread reported several spottings of the gold-painted vehicles, and videos showing the cars with sensor rigs have been circulating on Instagram.
At least in San Antonio, Tesla is behind the curve. Waymo, owned by Google’s parent corporation Alphabet, officially launched ride-hailing in February, adding airport service in March. Although the company has had a few hiccups, its white fleet is now a common sight on local highways.
Tesla has made more inroads in Texas’ other major metro, operating its Robotaxi app in Austin, Dallas, and Houston with modified FSD Model Y cars instead of Cybercabs. In a July 22 Q2 earnings call, Musk said he still anticipated rapid growth, despite the legwork still to be done in building the fleet. Waymo’s convoy dwarfs Tesla’s, boasting 577 cars versus the Austin company's 42.
Fleet size isn’t the only difference between the dueling services. Waymo uses a complex system of sensors for spatial awareness and weather accommodations. Tesla is banking that its AI vision-only learning will eventually help it scale.
Tesla’s current fleet of taxis cars are also designated as Level 2 by standards-setting organization SAE International, meaning the vehicles can perform steering, braking, and acceleration, but the driver must supervise the tasks. Waymos are designated Level 4, with high automation, as are Cybercabs.
Although it seems near-certain that Cybercabs will soon be launching in San Antonio, Tesla has not issued a public timeline. A request for more information was not returned in time for publication.
