Will Tesla Launch a 'Robotaxi' Network With Tesla Drivers?

By Not a Tesla App Staff
Not a Tesla App

During Tesla’s Q1 earnings call, Tesla talked about its plan for its upcoming robotaxi network and even showed off a design for the app that would allow customers to request vehicles, much like Uber and Lyft.

While Tesla plans to unveil the robotaxi, officially now called CyberCab this August, a true autonomous taxi is at the very least, a couple of years away. So why is Tesla so eager to show off an app and start offering a Tesla taxi service?

in 2023 Uber had a revenue of 37.28 billion, while Lyft had a much smaller revenue of 4.4 billion. For comparison, Tesla’s revenue last year was 96.77 billion. A taxi service, even one operated by humans can be incredibly lucrative. While Tesla’s ultimate goal may be an automated taxi service, they may be itching to get into the space.

Tesla’s robotaxi was initially supposed to be a taxi service owners would lend their vehicles to. While that’s still the plan, Tesla wants their own vehicles to be a part of the service as well.

Will the Robotaxi Service Start With Tesla Drivers?

Tesla comparing themselves to Airbnb and Uber during their earnings call is intriguing. While Tesla can start producing robotaxis almost whenever they want, it’d likely be smart to wait until autonomy is solved so they’re not limiting themselves to current FSD hardware.

While full autonomy is likely several years away, Tesla seems to be eager to make this push toward a Tesla-owned service. Is Tesla thinking about operating their own Uber-like service? Tesla could be thinking about releasing their future robotaxi app and service in “beta,” letting current Tesla owners operate their own vehicles on the service.

This could result in several benefits for Tesla, not only letting them test their service but also opening up another revenue stream. This would allow Tesla to start operating their robotaxi network as soon as this year, and then slowly replace drivers and owner vehicles with Tesla-owned robotaxis.

Tesla Shows Off Robotaxi App

Tesla showed off it's robotaxi app
Tesla showed off it's robotaxi app
Not a Tesla App

At the earnings call, Tesla also showed off a design of their robotaxi app. While it feels early to design an app for a service that could be years away, Tesla appears to be preparing itself for the future and getting customers excited about the prospect.

Tesla showed off five screens of the app, essentially showing how you’d request a robotaxi, how you can view its progress, and control certain features of the vehicle. Through the various screens, you can see most of Tesla’s Autopilot features coming to fruition in terms of autonomy, such as summon, self-driving and eventually Autopark.

Summon - Much like Tesla has re-thought the interior of a car and so many features, you can see the same mechanics applied to the app. To request a vehicle, you simply hold down a summon button and you’ll be presented with an estimate of when a vehicle will arrive.

Set Preferences and Destination - On the second screen, you can see the vehicle’s current location on a 3D map, possibly alluding to future FSD visualizations. It also lets you set your destination and set the climate temperature to your preference.

Trip Progress - While you’re traveling in the vehicle, you’ll be able to view trip information as well as set entertainment options.

Recap

Tesla had a lot to talk about during their earnings call and specifically about the Robotaxi — more information was revealed than ever before.

While there are various things at play to make a service like this come together, we can easily separate them out into separate components.

There’s the robotaxi itself, which Musk recently said would be similar to Tesla’s next-gen vehicle without a steering wheel. However, during this earnings call, he revealed that Tesla will save its new “unboxed” manufacturing process for the robotaxi and use a more traditional method for their next vehicle.

Then there’s FSD itself, while it’s crucial to operating a driverless robotaxi network, it’s not necessary to start a Tesla taxi service.

The last piece is the ride-hailing component itself and how it’s managed, and Tesla was happy to show this off, which makes us believe that it may be closer to reality than many think. While Tesla needs all three of these components to come together to operate a true robotaxi network, they piece them together separately, much like they’ve done with Autopilot. Initially, Tesla only released auto-steer then slowly added on summon, Autopark and city driving.

When we look back at Tesla five years from now, we may very well look back to this earnings call and say this was the pivotal moment when Tesla started transitioning to a services company.

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Tesla FSD V13.2.2 Arrives With Holiday Update Features; Rolling out to HW4 Models

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

FSD users can now join in the Holiday revelry, as FSDS V13.2.2 has started rolling out to customers, and it includes all the 2024 Telsa Holiday Update features.

Tesla’s VP of AI - Ashok Elluswamy, previously mentioned that the Holiday Update would be making its way to FSD users sometime this week. Ashok’s timelines have been right on point. All models with AI4/HW4 vehicles in North America are starting to receive the updated FSD release alongside all the features of the Holiday update.

This new build is update 2024.45.25.5, which should make its way throughout the fleet over the week.

Holiday Highlights

The Holiday update has a ton of new features in it, including new app features like Apple Watch support, the Dashcam and Sentry Mode Viewer and the ability to start Light Shows.

We also received rear cross-traffic alerts, while navigation received Search Along Route, Arrival Energy at Destination and Weather at Destination, and Precipitation Maps.

On the entertainment side, the Holiday Update brings the SiriusXM streaming app to the Model 3, Model Y, and Cybertruck, as well as an updated TuneIn player. Of course, there are new Cybertruck-specific features such as custom Cybertruck Wraps (don’t worry it’s coming to all models), a new Cyber Santa Mode, and Santa and Rainbow Road ambient lighting support.

Video of FSD V13.2.2

Here is our first look at FSD V13.2.2. While the release notes don’t point out any new features for FSD, it’s expected to include several unknown fixes and improvements.

Already on the Holiday Update?

If you’re already on Tesla’s Holiday update, version 2024.44.25.2, and you have a HW4 vehicle, then this version now qualifies you to receive FSD V13.2. We expect all HW4 vehicles with FSD to migrate to this version in the coming week or two.

Update 2024.45.25.5

FSD Supervised 13.2.2
Installed on 1.5% of fleet
170 Installs today
Last updated: Dec 23, 5:30 am UTC

If you have HW3, then look out for a future update, including FSD v12.6.

FSD V12.6 for HW3 Soon

For Hardware 3 owners, FSD V12.6 is also right around the corner - it should be launching no later than the end of the year, according to Ashok. We’re expecting the new tech stack for highway driving, the updated speed profiles, including Hurry Mode, as well as improvements from V12.5.6 to land for HW3 soon.

If you’re excited about that, go read our in-depth look at V12.5.6 to see a preview of what you’ll be getting in V12.6.

We’re looking forward to seeing the demo drives of V13.2.2 from some of our usual influencers, but the good news is the update has already started rolling out to the general public, so expect larger waves soon.

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By Not a Tesla App Staff
Not a Tesla App

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Free Supercharging and FSD

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Referral Codes

All referral codes will give you the same benefits. However, each one is limited to 10 uses, so if one hits the limit, try another one.

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