Tesla asked San Francisco’s airports, San Jose and Auckland to obtain licenses to operate a ride service at each location, According to Politico.
Tesla seems to have come into contact with every airport around the time when a charter charter in California began in late July. In the case of San Francisco and Auckland airports, the representatives told the Outlet that they had come into contact, but had not yet met Tesla. The San Jose Airport spokesman confirmed that he had not applied for a license and that Tesla had asked about the license process.
Tesla does not currently have the appropriate licenses to perform a true driving service, let alone a robot network, in California. Instead, there is a more limited charter service. These are not assumed to include autonomous vehicle functions, although rides have shown that company drivers use full self-guiding software (supervised) for the rides offered. The Tesla FSD (Supervised) is an advanced driver help system with some automated driving features that requires the driver to pay attention.
In order to return a larger driving service in California, Tesla will need a license from the California Public Business Committee. And if the fleet is made up of autonomous vehicles, it will also need licenses from the Motor Vehicle Division (DMV).
California DMV is currently trying to stop Tesla from selling vehicles to the state because it believes that the company has made very aggressive promises of its cars’ self-driving skills.
Airports are often selective when it comes to allowing new transport services. A decade ago, it was a battlefield for Uber and Lyft, companies trying to upgrade traditional taxis and limousine services.
In recent years, airports have been targeted by budding autonomous vehicles.
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Waymo has been on and from Phoenix’s Sky Harbour for about two years now. And just last week, the company was allowed to do the same at San Jose Airport. (Rides to and from San Jose Airport will start later this year after Waymo is completed.) Airports are popular goals because they represent a huge business opportunity. Waymo says Phoenix Airport is his most popular destination in the city.
Tesla began testing the first version of the Robotaxi network only of the Texas Austin invitation with about twelve cars. It has expanded the boundaries of the network to cover much of Austin’s largest area, although the company still appears to have only 20 to 30 cars in operation and has moved “security monitoring” to the driver’s seat.
Texas does not require as much transparency as California does when it comes to testing of autonomous vehicles, so it’s hard to say how well it has gone to the company. There have been various documented problems, although there are no significant conflicts or other incidents.
