What Tesla can and can’t do in California with its new passenger transportation permit

Tesla received a permit Tuesday from the California Public Utilities Commission to operate a transportation service in the state, the beginning of a long regulatory road that could eventually lead to the company getting the OK to operate a robotaxi service there. The permit, which Tesla applied for in November 2024, doesn’t cover autonomous vehicle testing or deployment. And it’s technically different than the permits that ride-hailing companies Lyft and Uber possess. Tesla was granted a transportation charter permit or TCP. A TCP permit means the company — in this case Tesla — owns the vehicles and uses employees as drivers, according to the CPUC, which regulates human-driven and driverless ride-hailing services in the state. A TCP is for companies that want to offer prearranged transportation services like roundtrip sightseeing, according to the commission. Uber and Lyft hold transportation network company (TNC) permits. TNCs use an online-enabled application like a smartphone app ... Read full article.