Musk picked Austin for Tesla’s robotaxi trials and rollouts primarily because the city serves as the home base for Tesla's corporate headquarters, and it offers close proximity to company engineers and executives overseeing the project.

Also, Texas law does not permit individual cities to regulate or ban autonomous vehicles, so it's an AV friendly environment.

Finally, other autonomous vehicle networks, such as Waymo, had already established testing footprints in Austin.

So sorry, but I think your conspiracy theory is a bit short lived.... ;)

Not enough to make up for waking up in the morning to go to work, only to find out some drunk puked in your front seat.

Or the used condoms in the back.

That's one of the reasons I never understood the pushback against EVs in certain circles. Put a solar panel on your roof and you're now independent of the grid and gas stations.

I mean, it's a LOT harder to put an oil well and refinery in your backyard.

They are, for the most part, illegal. That doesn't seem to stop the deaths and injuries, now does it?

40,000 people a year. Year in, and year out.

3,000 people die in a WTC attack and we flip out.

Kill 40,000 men, woman, and kids each and every year... and we accept it as "normal".

I agree wholeheartedly that we should do everything possible to prioritize mass transit, walkability, and biking, and minimize car use.

But.

In the US we've spend the last century designing our cites around urban sprawl. Like it or not, that's where many of our homes are and where people live.

You're simply NOT going to solve sprawl, especially in western cities, with mass transit.

As such, some form of personal transportation must exist. And if so, then it benefits everyone to make it as efficient, and as clean, as possible.

Which doesn't mean that in an emergency that they can't shut down roads and highways to automotive traffic or stop and arrest offenders who're violating the law.

Not to mention that your ability to operate a motor vehicle is largely dependent on the state and deemed a privilege, not a right. (Sovereign citizens to the contrary.) It can be taken away.

Your version of "personal autonomy" is illusionary.

Thank you.

You honestly think an always-on system that's always looking to the front, back, and sides simultaneously and that reacts in milliseconds is going to be less safe than all of the other dumb, drunk, distracted, texting, road raging idiots who currently drive their cars into walls, other cars, pedestrians, bikes, etc.?

In the US we currently kill 40,000 people a year in auto accidents. Injure 2.5 million more. Have 6 million collisions.

That's a pretty low bar to beat. Do HALF as good and you save 20,000 people a year.

People keep writing stories about how self-driving cars might kill them... all while ignoring the fact that our cars (and drivers) are killing about a hundred of us each and every day.

They're reportedly fixing those in future iterations as China balked and passed a law requiring mechanically operateable handles.

`Which still brings an interesting question to light. If self-driving vehicles turn out to be dramatically safer, will insurance companies give reduced rates to them?

Or to flip that around, charge "normal" drivers extravagant rates because they're costing them more money?

"Which also means personal autonomy is dead."

So true. Unless, of course, one had the ability to walk, bike, ride a scooter, take a bus, train, plane or ride on some other mass transit system.

There's more to "personal autonomy" than being about to go vroom-vroom in a car.

"The Tesla concept is a two-seater for zero benefit."

It's smaller, lighter, and it costs less, which isn't inconsequential if your goal is to make and operate millions of the things.

Besides, according to the states, approximately 90% to 95% of taxi and ride-hailing trips involve two passengers or less.

"The "no steering wheel even possible" is a needless way to signal your overconfidence in the tech."

Zoox does the same thing. Regardless, it's only "needless" if you don't care about the costs involved.

Perhaps all "pure" self driving vehicles need a port into which one can plug a joystick when needed.

Then again, the systems are "fly-by-wire" anyway, so if the vehicle is truly disabled the pedals and wheel aren't going to do much.

".... and you'll be able to just send your own Tesla to run cab overnight..."

Yep, be great to earn dollars from all of those people who need to be out and about at 2 AM...

What Google really needed to do was rename it when a certain Presidential phone asks for a map, Or from an IP coming from the White House.

Come on Google. We know you have the technology.