By Kara Carlson, Bloomberg
Tesla Inc. has just 42 vehicles operating as robotaxis in Texas almost a year after Elon Musk launched the service, a small fraction of the fleet commanded by rival Waymo.
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The official count was revealed for the first time in registration information Tesla submitted to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles under new rules that went into effect Thursday. A DMV website shows that Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo has registered 577 automated vehicles in the state, more than 13 times Tesla’s total.
The tally represents the most concrete assessment yet of the scale of Tesla’s Texas robotaxi network that began operating in Austin last June. Autonomous taxis are central to Musk’s effort effort to transform Tesla from a dominant maker of electric vehicles into a leader in artificial intelligence and robotics.
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Tesla’s robotaxi service recently expanded to Dallas and Houston. Still, it’s a modest start for an operation that Musk last fall said would include 500 robotaxis in Austin alone by the end of 2025, before dialing back those expectations.
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The numbers were submitted to Texas’s motor vehicle department under new state rules governing commercial operators of automated vehicles. The companies must provide the department with information including guidance for first responders and disclose how many vehicles they operate.
Texas previously had limited oversight of autonomous vehicle operators, only requiring that their vehicles be equipped with cameras, be insured and able to follow traffic laws.
Tesla also operates a rideshare service in the San Francisco Bay Area, although it lacks approvals needed to operate autonomous rides. The company said in April it is preparing to expand its service to five more cities, though Musk has said the network is unlikely to generate meaningful revenue for Tesla this year.
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In Texas, Waymo’s fleet operates in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin.
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