By Steven Symes 
Soon, people living in the metropolitan Phoenix area might be able to hail a Tesla robotaxi for autonomous travel. That’s thanks to the Arizona Department of Transportation clearing the American automaker’s service to run with safety drivers behind the wheel, for now.
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That’s how other robotaxi services in the area began, but now those are offering empty autonomous vehicles, a stage it looks like Tesla will achieve sooner or later. With so many already familiar with driverless car services in the Phoenix metro, plus strong support of the EV brand in the area, the service might become fairly popular.
For those living in the area, they can hail a Tesla, but instead of being alone in the vehicle, there will be a human in the driver’s seat. That person is there to take over in case there’s a problem with the autonomous drive system.
Nevada also recently approved Tesla’s robotaxi service. That means tourists from around the world visiting Las Vegas can experience the technology firsthand instead of just reading about it.
Tesla robotaxi service is already running in the Bay Area of California, also with human monitors in the driver’s seat. With its close proximity to the Silicon Valley, that market has been at the forefront of robotaxi services for years now.
While Tesla has received approval to use its robotaxis in the entire state of Texas, we’re only aware of them operating in Austin by the automaker’s headquarters. That might change soon enough as it’s clear the company is doing a soft launch of its autonomous ride service, at least for now.
But Elon Musk has made it clear the soft launch won’t last for long, with a vow to provide the Tesla robotaxi service to about half of the country by the close of 2025. That’s an ambitious plan, but with federal regulators making for a friendly environment, it just might happen.
Source: azcentral.com
Image via Tesla