• by Tanya Gazdik , 8 hours ago

Tesla is testing its driverless Model Y robotaxis  in Austin and social media users are posting about the experiences, both good and bad. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is taking notice. 

“In the videos shared widely online, one Tesla robotaxi was spotted traveling the wrong way down a road, and another was shown braking hard in the middle of traffic, responding to ‘stationary police vehicles outside its driving path,’ among several other examples,” according to CNBC. “A spokesperson for NHTSA said in an email that the agency ‘is aware of the referenced incidents and is in contact with the manufacturer to gather additional information.’”

The rollout is the first test of Musk’s belief that it’s possible to safely deploy fully autonomous vehicles using just cameras and end-to-end AI — an approach that differs from other players in the space, like Waymo, which Marketing Daily experienced first hand with absolutely no issues. 

“By all accounts (including Tesla’s), this is a limited first run,” according to TechCrunch. “The operating area covers South Austin, the fleet of vehicles is fewer than 20, and there is still a safety ‘monitor’ sitting in the front passenger seat.”

That doesn’t mean there was a subdued reaction. 

“Social media provided a flurry of video and personal accounts — from riders and onlookers — of the robotaxis milling about Austin,” according to TechCrunch. “And in numerous cases, the vehicles appeared to be violating traffic laws such as moving across double yellow lines into the oncoming traffic lane and abruptly hitting the brakes in the middle of intersections.”

Tesla investors and social media influencers who were invited to participate posted videos on social media over the weekend describing their experience. 

“The incidents could raise questions about the safety of the cars,” according to CBS News. “Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk said in an April earnings call that he expects millions of Tesla's self-driving cars to be on the road by the second half of 2026.”

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives sees such issues as the inevitable growing pains involved in deploying new technology.

“Any issues they encounter will be fixed,” said Wedbush Securities' Dan Ives, calling the test a “huge success" in the past three days “despite the skeptics.”

One of those skeptics, a Telemetry Insight expert in car technology, said the videos were alarming enough that the tests as currently run should be halted, according to The Associated Press. 

“The system has always had highly erratic performance, working really well a lot of the time but frequently making random and inconsistent but dangerous errors," said Sam Abuelsamid in a text, referring to Tesla's self-driving software. “This is not a system that should be carrying members of the public or being tested on public roads without trained test drivers behind the wheel.”

Musk, meanwhile, is retweeting pro-Tesla influencers who praised the service.

"One account Musk posted showed off a video of a robotaxi stopping to avoid running down a peacock crossing the road, and another told followers: 'Don’t listen to the media,'" according to The Guardian.