As a small number of Tesla robotaxis continue to pick up and drop off a select few Tesla influencers in Austin, Texas, a state legislator who represents part of the electric automakers’ limited service area says she’s concerned the cars’ driving is “less reliable” than the typical human driver.
Videos posted online show some “moving violations” that “could be very serious,” state senator Sarah Eckhardt, a Democrat who represents Texas’ 14th district, told WIRED in an interview. “My constituency is particularly tech savvy and excited about this [autonomous vehicle] technology, but my constituency is also very concerned about public safety, and we can hit the right balance.”
Last week, as the hours before the debut of Tesla’s robotaxi service ticked down, Eckhardt was one of seven Texas Democratic lawmakers who sent a letter to Tesla field quality director Eddie Gates asking the company to delay its plans to launch. Texas has for years had loose rules and oversight around autonomous vehicle operations, making it an attractive place for tech developers to test and launch. But a new law requiring AV companies to comply with "basic safety guardrails” passed this spring and will kick in on September 1, and the lawmakers were “formally requesting” Tesla wait until then to put its driverless cars on Austin’s roads.
“We believe that this is in the best interest of both public safety and building public trust in Tesla’s operations,” the lawmakers wrote. If Tesla chose to go ahead with the scheduled June 22 launch, the lawmakers requested "detailed information" about how Tesla will comply with the new law.
Eckhardt, the first to sign the letter, hasn’t heard from Tesla since, even after the company launched its service Sunday. “They’re sometimes difficult to get a hold of,” she says.
Still, Eckhardt credits the lawmakers’ pressure for Tesla’s decision to leave a human monitor in the front passenger seat of each robotaxi. According to videos posted by riders, these people seem to have some power to intervene when the technology doesn’t perform as expected. (Tesla did not respond to any of WIRED’s questions for this story.)