To display autonomous taxis one day, Tesla recruits a driver to test its management technology in New York, according to a job offer consulted on Wednesday, August 13 by AFP. The “vehicle driver, autopilot” position is to drive an “engineering vehicle” for long periods to collect visual and solid data for tests and training, “the announcement said.
Tesla and its competitors are still far from being able to launch a robotaxis service in the American city. And for a good reason, New York state legislation is currently limiting the use of vehicles without drivers for tests.
In June, Waymo, the industry leader, submitted a permission request to start trying his autonomous cars, with an employee behind the steering wheel (even if he does not intervene in driving). The alphabet subsidiary (Google) has a fleet of 1,500 vehicles and provides more than 250,000 trips paid per week in the United States, in San Francisco and Phoenix in particular. The group plans to launch in Atlanta this summer, then in Miami and Washington in 2026.
Many delays
The Chief of Tesla, Elon Musk, regularly presents that his business is at the forefront of the rapid deployment of autonomous vehicles, thanks to the exploitation of artificial intelligence and the data collected by its fleet that is already in circulation. But the company launched a limited robotaxis service in Austin, Texas, after many delays.
During a telephone conference in July, Elon Musk said that Tesla thought he could offer an autonomous transport service “probably half of the population of the United States by the end of the year”, a very ambitious and unrealistic objective at this stage.
The billionaire acknowledged that this deployment also depended on regulatory authorizations, adding that his company advanced “with great caution” due to security related concerns.
Source: BFM TV
