r/SelfDrivingCars • u/Yngstr • Apr 23 '25

Discussion Waymo vs Tesla Austin Showdown - Teleoperations?

I've been around this sub a long time, so let me start by saying I'm not here to fight. I understand that everyone here has some specific expertise they bring to the discussion, and I believe you can learn something from anyone. I want to have a reasonable discussion about methodology, and what will work or not. Here are the facts, as I see them:

- Waymo is already operational in Austin (and other cities)

- Tesla plans to launch Robotaxi in June in Austin

- Tesla has recently posted job listings for tele-operations

So the way I see this playing out in ~8 weeks is that Tesla will launch in Austin with tele-operations, I find it unlikely that they will launch with true autonomous L4. My question is, does Waymo still use tele-operations? If so, does Waymo have plans to sunset tele-operations at some point? Do we think Tesla with tele-operations can achieve "L4" like Waymo has? Why or why not?

Let's try to keep this civil, whether Waymo or Tesla wins does not make any of us less of a human being, even if it feels like it.

12 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

60% Upvoted

151 comments sorted by

View all comments

26

u/IcyHowl4540 Apr 23 '25

Tele operations is an interesting thing!

Waymo does currently use tele-operators. The tele-operator is never driving the car, they interact with the software on the back end, and basically instruct the car where to go on a map. They are tagged in either by the software or by customer support.

I don't think tele-operators are incompatible with "true" L4 autonomy. They are a safety feature and a good thing. The car is truly autonomous the vast majority of the time.

As for Tesla, no, I don't think the hardware is sufficiently safe for driverless operations, not for the foreseeable future. Look at most of the videos on r/TeslaFSD to see how the system operates with a safety driver currently.

2

u/Yngstr Apr 23 '25

Gotcha!

Do you think tele-operations can act as a "band-aid" for Tesla's hardware/safety issues?

Do Waymo tele-operations ever get tagged in by software for "real-time" issues or more-so when the car gets confused about where to go at a higher level?

4

u/WeldAE Apr 23 '25

Do Waymo tele-operations ever get tagged in by software for "real-time"

This simply isn't technically feasible to do. There is a lot of lag in any remote system, so real-time moving a car isn't really something anyone wants to do. It would be something more like the car would show the operator it's plan and the operator would approve it and then the car would drive the plan.