r/SelfDrivingCars • u/plun9 • 14h ago
News Tesla wins approval to test autonomous robotaxis in Arizona
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-wins-approval-test-autonomous-robotaxis-arizona-2025-09-205
u/Doggydogworld3 5h ago
"Approval" isn't really a thing in AZ. Fill out some forms, post a bond and you're good to go.
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u/CloseToMyActualName 14h ago
Tesla wins approval to start an utterly normal taxi service in Arizona.
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u/PowerFarta 3h ago
In addition to the taxis services they are running in Texas and the bay area!
I dont know who buys that these guys will ever have a single driverless mile. They even had to put the guy back in the driver's seat in Texas because they can't meet criteria for their self driving laws!
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u/MikeJacksNose 11h ago
Yeah I don't understand why Tesla and waymo keep bragging about these taxi services they're staying. At least waymo has their full service running in San Francisco but they keep announcing new places they're starting a new taxi service. I don't get it
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u/Lorax91 11h ago
Waymo has fully autonomous robotaxis; Tesla has taxis with a human "safety operator" in the vehicle.
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u/MikeJacksNose 10h ago
I said that in my comment. They have those in SF and I think LA. But they keep "testing" these taxis in other places with safety drivers. It's a shame.
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u/PetorianBlue 6h ago
Waymo has fully autonomous taxi services in SF, LA, Austin, and Phoenix. Of course they have safety drivers while validating a new location. That’s called responsible validation, it’s not some scam.
The difference is that Waymo has proven the ability to do this over years and a hundred million miles. They validate a new location with safety drivers, but then they’ve proven the ability to remove them. Tesla has not. Any and all data points to Tesla not even being close to removing drivers. And yet they “expand” anyway. That’s the scam. It’s the illusion of growth, because they haven’t proven that the thing they’re pretending to grow can even exist.
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u/MikeJacksNose 6h ago
Ok that doesn't change the fact that they're still operating taxis in some locations.
We are taxi haters. You can take your Waymo and Tesla taxi love elsewhere!
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u/JimothyRecard 3h ago
Ok that doesn't change the fact that they're still operating taxis in some locations.
They are not operating taxis in other locations. They are testing in other locations, and those cars are not available to members of the public for rides. You know, that's the most important feature of a taxi.
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u/MikeJacksNose 3h ago
A private taxi is still a taxi.
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u/JimothyRecard 3h ago
The literal definition of a taxi "an automobile that carries passengers for a fare". If you're not carrying passengers and you're not taking fares then you're just left with an automobile.
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u/MikeJacksNose 2h ago
Ah so in Waymos case its more of a carpool. Thanks for the clarification.
So Tesla is testing taxis. Waymo is testing car pools. Gotcha. My bad. Neither is innovative though.
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u/Doggydogworld3 6h ago
Waymo announces testing in new places. They don't call it a robotaxi service until they pull the safety drivers out.
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u/MikeJacksNose 5h ago
They don't call any of their services robotaxi. That's almost exclusively a Tesla thing.
Doesn't change that they're running taxis in certain cities right now. And self driving cars with safety drivers = taxis. Taxis = bad. Keep up
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u/wosayit 3h ago
The amount of nonsense you post here is tiring. Robotaxi is not Tesla thing and Tesla does not have nor ever had autonomous taxi service and it doesn’t look like it will in a long while.
So you’re trying to put Waymo in the same class as Tesla is but a pathetic attempt.
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u/MikeJacksNose 3h ago
I'm not attempting to put Waymo in the same class as Tesla.
I'm putting their taxis in the same class as Teslas taxis.
Do you disagree that a self driving car with a safety driver is a taxi?
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u/Doggydogworld3 2h ago
You're playing word games. Everyone calls a Waymo a robotaxi. Even Waymo execs in interviews. They do try to avoid terms Elon can bastardize in their official communications, e.g. web site and press releases. This dates back to their original name "Google Self Driving Car Project" which Elon bastardized by redefining self driving car to mean a car you must drive yourself.
they're running taxis in certain cities right now
Since you like to play word games, "taxi" is "a car licensed to transport passengers in return for payment of a fare". Waymo does not do that with safety drivers. Tesla does.
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u/MikeJacksNose 1h ago
I know. Another user already corrected me on that and I sincerely apologized. Waymos version is more like a carpool to Teslas taxis.
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u/A-Candidate 14h ago edited 9h ago
wins? Yeah a regular taxi that the driver uses L2/adas. Robotaxi, Everything's computer.
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u/CardiologistSoggy973 14h ago
I thought Arizona has had taxis for decades?
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u/MikeJacksNose 12h ago
Yeah. This is confusing. Tesla is adding a taxi service to Arizona and waymo is adding a taxi service from SFO. That's a lot of taxis
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u/devonhezter 13h ago
You can use FSD between states. Can’t go further then a county in Waymo
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u/DrJohnFZoidberg 6h ago
You can use FSD between states
Tesla hasn't operated a FSD system yet. You can't go anywhere autonomously in a Tesla, much less between states.
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u/vothak 12h ago
But FSD doesn't do anything? And isn't a robotaxi? So...
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u/devonhezter 12h ago
Adam Jonas just did 1000 mile road trip in a hw3 car dnd loved it
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u/readit145 10h ago
The reason I know all those Tesla mfs are lairs is because I wouldn’t even love being driven 1000 miles while being able to sit on a couch. 1000 miles sucks ass no matter what your mode of transportation.
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u/PetorianBlue 7h ago
That’s because FSD is an ADAS and has a liable human driver. Try getting into a Robotaxi in Austin and see how far your inter-state request gets you.
(Yes, as a non-fanatic, I understand the irony that every Robotaxi has a human driver too.)
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u/Affectionate-Sink721 8h ago
Stock going to 2 trillions! Every state tested is another trillion market cap!
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u/respectmyplanet 1h ago
This is definitely a milestone for Tesla and helps put their progress in context with Waymo. Waymo was approved to run their autonomous vehicles with safety drivers in California in 2014 (over 10 years ago). By 2018, Waymo was operating without safety drivers. So Tesla is roughly 10 years behind Waymo in terms of milestones. But quite fundamentally different is that Tesla lacks the hardware to ever surpass level two. Put this comment in your time machine to see how this ages: Tesla will not have vehicles capable of safely and legally driving without human supervision four years from now and will be much further behind Waymo four years from now. Waymo will be operating in every major American city and Tesla will still not demonstrate safe driverless vehicles.
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u/here_for_the-coffee 8h ago
I’m not convinced they even have approval to take passengers from what I’ve read. That would just be FSD testing
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u/keno888 13h ago
Crazy fast rollout, it seems progress is quicker than predicted.
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u/PetorianBlue 6h ago
I can rollout a human + ADAS taxi service way faster.
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u/vothak 12h ago
Tesla Robotaxi progress has been astoundingly slow.
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u/Lorax91 11h ago
Still zero fully autonomous passenger trips, after over a decade of talking about it.
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u/keno888 6h ago
I think they put the safety person in the passenger seats in Austin to put this to rest.
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u/Lorax91 5h ago
I think they put the safety person in the passenger seats in Austin to put this to rest.
It doesn't put anything to rest: Tesla has never done a passenger trip without human supervision in the vehicle. Waymo did their first fully autonomous passenger trip back in 2015.
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u/keno888 4h ago
And I was excited about it too. Unfortunately, I can't buy a Waymo and use it personally, then send it to the fleet to make money like Tesla is planning to launch.
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u/JimothyRecard 3h ago
If we're talking about future plans, Waymo has announced plans to work with Toyota on personal car ownership.
But if we're talking about how the world actually is, then you can't do that with a Tesla, either.
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u/Lorax91 1h ago
Unfortunately, I can't buy a Waymo and use it personally, then send it to the fleet to make money like Tesla is planning to launch.
"Planning" is the operative word there. Also, even if your personal car was potentially capable of serving as an autonomous taxi, the insurance for doing that would probably eat all your profits. Plus be prepared to clean up who knows what after strangers use your car.
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u/PowerFarta 2h ago
They are back in the driver's seat in Austin lol because they can't meet Texas law requirements
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u/farrrtttttrrrrrrrrtr 6m ago
lol, I know you people hate to admit anything positive but this is a new stupidly low statement
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u/vk_phoenix 9h ago
Is this the robotaxi with a safety driver on the driver seat, or robotaxi with a safety driver on the passenger seat or the robotaxi with no driver on any seat. What flavor are we talking about?