Tesla‘s CEO Elon Musk said on Sunday that the Full Self Driving system will have a “step change improvement” as the company prepares to publicly release its robotaxi service.
“Your Tesla self-driving capability will see a step change improvement as we integrate upgrades for the Austin robotaxi build into the general production release,” the chief executive posted on X.
According to Musk, the company still has to “validate that improvements for Austin don’t cause regressions elsewhere.”
Regarding updates on the release of the ride-hailing service outside of the US, Musk said that Tesla is still “awaiting regulatory approval, hopefully soon” in China and Europe.
The company has already launched the FSD in China earlier this year, however stricter regulations in Europe mean that Tesla is still limited to testing the technology on the continent.
The company started offering paid fully driverless rides in Austin late last month, with an initial fleet of about 10 Model Ys covering a five-mile radius service area.
Last week, the company expanded the geofenced area of its robotaxi service in Austin, doubling the original service zone introduced in late June.
Musk was previously asked about the expansion of the service to the Bay Area, which according to him is “probably” coming “in a month or two.”
On Sunday, he reinforced that the service will be arriving in San Francisco “as soon as the regulators approve” it, adding that “they are being quite reasonable.”
To launch its paid ride-hailing service in San Francisco, Tesla must obtain several permits from both the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).
The EV maker aims to have “hundreds of thousands, if not over a million Teslas doing self-driving in the US” by the end of next year, according to Musk.
In mid-June, when the first Model Y operating as part of Tesla’s ride-hailing service was spotted, Elon Musk stated that these are “unmodified Tesla cars coming straight from the factory.”
He confirmed that every new vehicle is “capable of unsupervised self-driving.”
Musk then added that the model featured “a new version of software,” which he expected to be “ready for deployment in a few months.”
When Tesla enthusiast Sawyer Merritt asked if it would be available this quarter, Musk responded, “Looking good, so far.”
Although Tesla hasn’t launched the service to the public yet, it has begun sending invitations to regular customers who signed up for the service on its website earlier this month, according to several users on X.
The only company currently running a full self-driving robotaxi in the Bay Area is Waymo, which has a fleet of about 1,500 vehicles in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta.
