Tesla has expanded their robotaxi service to the Bay Area in California, with a significant coverage area, spanning areas from the north of San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Fremont, and all the way down to San Jose. While the geofence is large, the service that will be operating in the Bay Area is different than what is being offered in Austin.
Back in June Tesla first launched their robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, with fares limited to a small area near the south end of the city. It didn’t take long for the company to expand however, growing the service area to cover more area north of the city within just a few weeks.
With no major safety incidents in the more than one month the service has been available in Texas, Tesla has now expanded to California, where it has said the service will move to next. According to an update to the robotaxi app on Wednesday night, Tesla simply said, “rides are now available in the Bay Area.”
Along with the update, a new map showing the geofenced service area was also released, indicating customers will be able to hail a ride over a significant area, with a north to south distance of around 80 miles, whereas the same distance in Austin covers just 13 miles.
Of course, immediate comparisons were made to Waymo’s service area, which includes San Francisco proper, Daly City, and down to Burlingame. Waymo also covers a small section of Silicon Valley, although the two areas are not connected.
Bay Area Robotaxis to Use Safety Driver
As we noted, Tesla’s service in the Bay Area will differ from what is being offered in Austin, in that in California there will be a safety driver in the driver’s seat, leading to the company calling it a ride-hailing service. This compares to Austin where there is no one behind the steering wheel, but there is a safety operator riding in the front passenger seat with the ability to stop the car if necessary. It is unclear if there will also be remote operators in California like there are in Texas, although this seems unlikely considering they will have a human in the driver’s seat.
The reason Tesla is doing this is that they do not yet have the required permits from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to operate without a safety driver. According to the CPUC, Tesla has not applied for these permits, but now that the service has launched in California, the company can apply. However, it is unclear how long the approval process will take to allow them remove safety drivers from their vehicles.
