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How consumers view robotaxis ahead of Tesla’s ‘We, Robot’ event: study
Ahead of Tesla’s Robotaxi unveiling event on Thursday, one firm has released data suggesting that early consumer experience with driverless ride-hailing platforms has generally been positive.
On Tuesday, J.D. Power shared the results of its 2024 U.S. Robotaxi Experience study, which found that, on average, consumers ranked driverless ride-hailing experiences an 8.53 out of 10. In its second year, the study surveyed 3,773 respondents along with 773 consumers who lived in cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Dallas, where robotaxi services are already available.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, consumer confidence in robotaxis was about substantially higher in those who had prior experience in one of the self-driving vehicles, landing at 76 percent, and well above the 20 percent for those who had not. Consumer confidence was also improved by public exposure to the technology, with 34 percent of those who had not ridden but had witnessed self-driving vehicles expressing some level of trust and acceptance.
Notably, these results suggest that sheer experience with robotaxi platforms — both riding inside them and seeing them on the street — tends to give consumers greater public trust in these driverless solutions. The results also come as the market for driverless ride-hailing continues to grow, as Tesla and other companies ready their commercial robotaxi offerings.
The study featured five categories, including comfort and convenience, initiating rides, taking rides in the given vehicle, service availability and cost, as well as overall vehicle technology. Responses for the study were fielded in August.
What's special about FSD Supervised is that it works anywhere in the US & Canada.
No high definition maps, no geofence.
This means you can even use it in places that no Tesla has never traveled to before
— Tesla AI (@Tesla_AI) October 4, 2024
The key findings also included that consumers regularly seek out safety features and easy access to authorities, such as the inclusion of an emergency button in robotaxis. Service area coverage and cost remain barriers for some consumers who haven’t tried the services out yet, with the vast majority of companies employing a mapping strategy to certain service areas.
“The robotaxi segment is still anyone’s game, given that most people are not familiar with robotaxi brands and haven’t formed a clear associative imagery,” said Kathleen Rizk, J.D. Power’s Senior Director of User Experience Benchmarking and Technology.
Other key findings include that consumers strongly value how well vehicles navigate traffic laws, and how well they perform when maneuvering regular traffic. In addition, 77 percent of rides said they would prefer a driverless robotaxi to a ride-share with a human driver when needing to have a private conversation.
You can view J.D. Power’s full study results for the 2024 Robotaxi Experience Study on the firm’s website here.
Currently, driverless ride-hailing services and tests are operated by the Google-owned company Waymo, May Mobility, Zoox, and Motional. Meanwhile, General Motors (GM) subsidiary Cruise was forced to halt self-driving operations last fall after an accident with a pedestrian, though it’s currently aiming to relaunch services by the end of this year.
While Tesla offers its Full Self-Driving (FSD) Supervised to customers, it doesn’t currently have the software available to consumers as a driverless ride-hailing system. However, the company is widely expected to unveil a ride-hailing service during its “We, Robot” event on Thursday, and it has already teased a mobile app ride-hailing platform.
The company’s FSD Supervised, eventually expected to become Unsupervised as Tesla targets the cars becoming safer than human drivers, is also one of the only self-driving softwares out there that doesn’t utilize area mapping. For that reason, Tesla has touted its ability to scale FSD beyond mapped-out service areas, especially when paired with the ongoing training of its AI neural network through real-time driving footage.
Apparent camouflaged Tesla Robotaxi prototype sighted at Warner Bros. Burbank
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Just hours after Starship Flight 13 achieved a successful soft splashdown of its upper stage in the Indian Ocean on July 24, Elon Musk announced an ambitious next step for the company’s next launch of the rocket.
“Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on [the] next flight,” the SpaceX CEO posted on X on Friday.
That “next flight” is expected to be Flight 14. The plan involves returning the Starship upper stage, commonly called the “ship,” to the Starbase launch tower in Texas and catching it mid-air using the same mechanical “chopsticks” arms that have already proven themselves with the Super Heavy booster.
Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on next flight
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2026
A successful catch would mark the first time an orbital-class upper stage has been recovered this way, advancing SpaceX’s goal of full and rapid reusability for the entire vehicle.
SpaceX has already demonstrated the tower-catch technique multiple times with Super Heavy. The first successful catch came on Flight 5 in October 2024, when Booster 12 was plucked from the sky by the Mechazilla arms. Subsequent flights, including those involving Boosters 14 and 15, repeated the feat. Several of those recovered boosters were later inspected, refurbished, and flown again, proving the system’s viability for quick turnaround.
Traditional reusable rockets, such as SpaceX’s own Falcon 9 or Blue Origin’s New Shepard, land on legs either on land or droneships. Rocket Lab has recovered its small Electron first stages by helicopter, but those are far lighter vehicles.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), completed a catch of its booster on July 10. They are the only entity besides SpaceX to attempt and complete the feat.
Flight 13 provided encouraging data. The ship executed a controlled reentry, flipped, and soft-landed intact in the ocean after deploying Starlink satellites, offering the first clear post-splashdown views of an undamaged heat shield. The Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, experienced a harder splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
Musk has previously stressed that ship catches would only follow multiple successful soft ocean landings to minimize risk of debris over land.
If Flight 14 succeeds, SpaceX would take a major stride toward routine, rapid reuse of both stages—critical for lowering launch costs and supporting ambitious plans for lunar and Mars missions. For now, teams are reviewing the Flight 13 data. Should everything check out, the next Starship flight could deliver one of the most spectacular recoveries in aerospace history.
In a move echoing its earlier commitment to open innovation, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced recently that the company plans to make the design and software of its Model S and Model X fully open source.
This follows the same approach Tesla took with its original Roadster, releasing all available design, engineering, and diagnostic materials in November 2023 so that “whatever we have, you now have.”
Just as Tesla made the original Roadster design & software open source, we plan to do the same with Model S & X
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 24, 2026
The Model S, introduced in 2012, was Tesla’s first mass-produced vehicle and a groundbreaking luxury electric sedan. It offered impressive range, rapid acceleration, and over-the-air software updates that redefined expectations for electric cars.
The Model X, launched in 2015, built on that foundation as a high-performance electric SUV notable for its distinctive falcon-wing doors, spacious interior, and advanced safety features. Both models served as flagships that helped establish Tesla as a leader in the EV industry and popularized long-range battery-electric vehicles.
Production of the Model S and Model X was wound down earlier in 2026, with manufacturing ending in the second quarter. Tesla redirected the Fremont factory space previously used for these vehicles toward higher-priority projects, including Optimus humanoid robots and the Cybercab autonomous vehicle.
By the time of Musk’s open-source announcement, custom orders had closed and only remaining inventory was available.
Open-sourcing the designs and software offers several clear advantages. Owners of these aging but still capable vehicles gain better access to technical documentation, diagnostic tools, and software resources, making independent repairs and modifications easier and more affordable.
Independent repair shops and third-party specialists can support the large existing fleet without relying solely on Tesla’s service network. Enthusiasts and engineers can study real-world implementations of Tesla’s battery, powertrain, and software systems, potentially accelerating broader industry progress in electric mobility.
The step aligns with Tesla’s 2014 patent pledge and its overall mission to advance sustainable transport by sharing hard-won knowledge rather than locking it behind proprietary walls.
By releasing these materials now that the models have left production, Tesla ensures continued support for its early adopters while freeing internal resources for future technologies. The open-source release of the original Roadster already enabled simulations, community projects, and deeper technical understanding.
Extending that practice to the Model S and Model X should deliver similar benefits on a larger scale, helping keep these influential vehicles relevant and repairable for years to come
Tesla flexed one incredible Robotaxi metric during the Q2 Earnings Call that skeptics have to hate to hear. The company’s platform has already driven more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised ride-hailing across several states with no notable incidents.
During the company’s Q2 Earnings Call on Wednesday, Vice President of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, said:
“First of all, I’d like to state that the Robotaxi program has been operating extremely well. Especially in terms of safety, the program has had an impeccable safety record. We have driven more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised Robotaxi, now across six cities in two different states. We have had zero notable incidents. Any reports have been of other actors impacting us when we were stationary. I like to emphasize how safe the operation has been so far. Zero notable incidents over 380,000 miles.”
Elluswamy’s claim over Robotaxi miles is a significant milestone for Tesla in the grand scheme, especially considering this is a sizeable number of miles without any incident.
0 notable incidents across over 380,000 miles traveled by Robotaxi
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla’s self-driving approach is much different than that of other companies. Tesla has maintained that vision is the only thing needed to have a solid and effective self-driving suite. Many self-driving companies utilize things like LiDAR, sensors, and other elements to improve performance, but Elluswamy sent a jab at those who believe it’s needed.
“Historically, the so-called experts have always claimed that you need LiDARs, radars, HD maps, and the entire kitchen sink to drive safely. Here we show that such is not true. You can have safe, comfortable, and affordable autonomy with just cameras. This record should be a huge validation of Tesla’s entire AI approach.”
The feat of accumulating this many miles without any driver behind the wheel is impressive. The thing is, Tesla is also doing this across several different locations, with varying traffic rules, pedestrian levels, weather patterns, and other important factors.
While Tesla is not ready to roll out an unsupervised platform completely, it is a slow but steady indication that the company is well on its way to figuring things out.
The company’s attitude toward expansion is slow, safe, and controlled, and despite this huge milestone, it will still be some time until we see Tesla truly unleash unsupervised rides more aggressively.
SpaceX wants to catch Starship for launch 14, Elon Musk says
Tesla to open source Model S and Model X designs and software
