Tesla’s robotaxi push is confusing the hell out of regulators

For a company that’s staking its future on AI and robotics, Tesla sure is having a tough time explaining its technology to government regulators. The company’s efforts to launch a robotaxi service in San Francisco, which isn’t actually a robotaxi since it features safety drivers in the front seat, is alarming state officials in charge of overseeing autonomous vehicle testing, according to a new report from Reuters.

Emails between Tesla and state officials illustrate the growing sense that the company is trying to have its cake and eat it too. Despite Elon Musk’s public statements that Tesla was getting “regulatory permission” to launch a robotaxi service in the Bay Area, the company had yet to apply for any of the needed permits to do so. Instead, the service that Tesla eventually did launch was in vehicles with safety drivers behind the wheel to invite-only customers.

Perplexed state transportation officials asked Tesla’s policy representatives whether they could help clear up “public confusion” about the launch, according to the emails obtained by Reuters. Tesla’s reply was to avoid the question entirely, saying only that the company’s policy was not to respond to questions from the press. Which makes a ton of sense when responding to a question from a government official in charge of overseeing the safe rollout of autonomous vehicles.

Subsequent emails between California’s Department of Motor Vehicles and the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration touch on the fact that Tesla hadn’t applied for any of the permits needed to test fully driverless vehicles in the state, let alone operate them commercially. Officials also pressed Tesla’s policy representatives about “misconceptions” about whether Tesla was operating an actual robotaxi service. Tesla’s reply apparently didn’t clear things up.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that Tesla wants the public perception of operating a robotaxi service without actually taking on any of the legal or regulatory burdens of doing that.