Will Tesla's robotaxi have a steering wheel or not? Elon Musk isn't saying.
Tesla's CEO dodged several questions during an earnings call Tuesday about the status of the company's long-promised self-driving vehicle, including whether it would have traditional controls like pedals and steering wheels.
It’s an increasingly important question hanging over Tesla’s robotaxi plans, which have already been delayed to allow for more work on the prototype. In theory, a vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals could take months, if not years, to be approved for public roads. Meanwhile, a more traditional-looking vehicle could be launched much sooner.
In theory, a vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals could take months, if not years, to be approved.
That's because Tesla would need federal government approval to deploy a robotaxi with a more radical design, which it acknowledges in its letter to shareholders.
“While the timing of Robotaxi deployment depends on technological advancement and regulatory approval, we are vigorously pursuing this opportunity given the enormous potential value,” the company said.
And yet, when asked specifically what regulatory approval Tesla would seek, Musk declined to answer.
Specifically, he was asked if Tesla would request a waiver from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations to deploy a vehicle without traditional controls. His response was to compare Tesla’s “generalized solution” to Waymo’s more “localized” one, which he described as “quite fragile.”
“Our solution is a general solution that would work anywhere,” he added. “It would work even on a different Earth.”
Currently, the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) require cars to have basic human controls, such as steering wheels, pedals, side mirrors, and so on. These standards specify how vehicles must be designed before they can be sold in the U.S. If a proposed new vehicle doesn’t meet all of the existing FMVSS standards, manufacturers can apply for a waiver. But the government only offers 2,500 waivers per company per year.
“It would even work on a different Earth.”
In theory, the exemption limit would prevent any autonomous vehicle company — Tesla included — from mass deploying specially designed self-driving cars. Autonomous vehicle advocates have tried to pass legislation to lift the limit and allow more driverless vehicles on public roads, but the bill is stalled in Congress over questions about liability and the readiness of the technology.
So far, only one company has been granted an FMVSS waiver: Nuro, which is using them to deploy a small number of self-driving delivery robots in Texas and California. Cruise, which is owned by GM, applied for an FMVSS waiver for its steering-wheel- and pedal-less Origin shuttle, but it was never approved and now the Origin is on hold indefinitely. amazon’s Zoox said its autonomous shuttle was “self-certified,” prompting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open an investigation into what that means.
Other companies have chosen to skip this step entirely. All of Waymo’s self-driving vehicles have traditional controls, despite operating on public roads without safety drivers. The company has said it will eventually introduce a steering wheel-less vehicle, but it hasn’t yet said when or whether it will apply for an FMVSS waiver.
All of this means that Tesla faces similar regulatory hurdles, depending on whether it decides to ditch traditional controls or not. There have been some hints on the issue, such as design drawings showing the vehicle as a steering wheel-free zone.
Critics have dismissed Tesla's robotaxi as fictional, pointing out that Waymo makes about 50,000 passenger rides each week while Musk continues to make vague promises about a vehicle that hasn't been seen and may never actually exist.
Musk is certainly banking on it, insisting time and again that Tesla is fundamentally an artificial intelligence company and not a traditional car company. However, he is unwilling to be transparent about the very real obstacles the company is likely to face in its race to make this vision a reality.
We'll have to wait until October for a real answer, or maybe even later, unless there are further delays.
