#ElonMusk’s tightly controlled
#Tesla robotaxi pilot program in Austin has managed to go 16 days without a major accident. But on June 24, a Model Y in its test fleet dinged a parked Toyota Camry outside a popular pizza parlor. It was a minor thing, but what if the car had hit a person instead?
Bullish Tesla investors are counting on Musk’s
#robotaxi dream to create a vast new revenue stream from autonomous rides. That may happen, but it also creates a risk the company hasn’t faced before: legal liability from self-driving tech failures. Tesla owners hoping to make money Airbnb-ing their cars in a company-run robotaxi ride service Musk has touted for years could be on the hook as well.
“There will be some cars that Tesla owns itself … but then for the fleet that is owned by our customers it will be like an Airbnb thing. You can add or subtract your car to the fleet whenever you want,” Musk said at Tesla’s shareholder meeting last June. “Just one tap on the Tesla app and you can add y...