News
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
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.
Tesla Energy has introduced the Powerwall Lease in conjunction with Tesla Electric, making the service available in Texas. This new option delivers whole-home backup power using two Powerwall units for a net monthly cost of $35 after credits, accompanied by a low fixed electricity rate.
Under the lease terms, customers pay a one-time order fee of $100. The base lease payment for the two Powerwalls is approximately $122 per month during the first year, subject to a 3 percent annual escalator thereafter. Enrollment in a qualifying Tesla Electric Backup plan or Virtual Power Plant plan provides an $87 monthly credit.
Powerwall Lease is now available with Tesla Electric in Texas
Whole-home backup for $35/month, with a low fixed electricity rate
– Two Powerwalls, $0 installation
– Storm Watch outage protection
– One app to manage it all pic.twitter.com/oTzqc6K3aF— Tesla Energy (@teslaenergy) August 13, 2026
This credit lowers the effective cost to roughly $35 per month plus applicable tax.
-
Installation of the standard system carries no additional charge. The package features Storm Watch for outage protection and allows complete management through a single Tesla application. The system supplies continuous whole-home backup capability.
The Powerwall system enables households to maintain electricity during severe storms that disrupt the utility grid. When outages occur, the batteries automatically provide seamless backup power to the home.
Tesla announces 100k Powerwalls are participating in Virtual Power Plants
Tesla Storm Watch monitors weather forecasts and ensures the units are fully charged ahead of anticipated severe weather events so that power remains available throughout the disruption, keeping lights, refrigeration, and other essential systems operating without interruption.
Availability is restricted to select Texas locations where retail electric choice exists. Participants must lease exactly two Powerwall units and maintain continuous enrollment with Tesla Electric. Solar panels cannot be included under this particular lease arrangement.
The monthly credit activates automatically once the system is installed, receives permission to operate, and enrollment is confirmed. To retain the credit, customers are required to stay enrolled in Tesla Electric and fulfill all program conditions.
Nonstandard installations that involve electrical upgrades or special permitting may lead to extra expenses and might impact eligibility for the credit, so be sure to check with either your installer or Tesla to ensure you will still qualify.
-
Elon Musk continues to tease the unveiling event for the Tesla Roadster, a continuing trend that has grown into a bigger game of “When” for fans who have been waiting years for the car to finally enter production.
A video shared on X of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that Musk appeared on last year, teasing the Roadster unveiling, was shared once again on the social media platform. The poster said the Roadster event will be “unforgettable.”
Musk agreed:
Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2026
The timing is interesting because just yesterday, Musk said that we will be getting flying cars, and for years, Tesla has hinted that it could develop a SpaceX cold gas thruster package that would help the car float or fly for a short period of time.
It would be reasonable to assume Tesla’s major delays with this unveiling event are likely caused by the company’s need to break the rules and push the envelope on nearly everything. Last July, Lars Moravy, Tesla’s VP of Vehicle Engineering, said:
-
“Roadster is definitely in development. We did talk about it last Sunday night. We are gearing up for a super cool demo. It’s going to be mind blowing. We showed Elon some cool demos last week of the tech we’ve been working on and he got a little excited.”
The latest updates that Tesla has given us are that the Roadster is in design development, and it did have several potential dates for an unveiling event this year, including April. It was then pushed to August.
However, there are no clues as to when Tesla will be ready, and fans are certainly getting frustrated with the delays.
For what it is worth, Franz von Holzhausen told Jay Leno this week that the event would be “very soon.”
We sure hope.
Lifestyle
Tesla’s driverless Cybercab just passed a big test with State Governor
Florida’s governor rode Tesla’s Cybercab at a closed test track and called the experience impressive.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis rode in a Tesla Cybercab on a closed test track this week and came away impressed, posting on X that the vehicle “successfully navigated all hazards — a kid running into the street, a crash with police stopping traffic, a Model S cutting us off, etc.” He called the ride “impressive.”
The stop was part of a broader event Monday at SunTrax, a 775 acre state owned proving ground in Auburndale that Florida built specifically to test autonomous and connected vehicles before they reach public roads. Standing next to a gold Cybercab, DeSantis described the car in plain terms: “You go in there and you just sit. You have a screen. There’s no steering wheel, no pedals. Clearly these things could be very beneficial.”
We took a ride on a robotaxi on the Suntrax course and it successfully navigated all hazards — a kid running into the street, a crash with police stopping traffic, a Model S cutting us off, etc.
Impressive! https://t.co/FVAkzFLz3r
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) August 11, 2026
DeSantis paired the praise with a caveat that has followed autonomous vehicles since the category existed. “You don’t want to be in an autonomous vehicle and it drives you into a ditch. That would not be good,” he said, framing safety validation as the gate before wider deployment.
SunTrax, the 2.25 mile oval which the state calls the only high speed autonomous vehicle test track in the Southeast, can simulate rain, pedestrian crossings, hills and crowded urban conditions at highway speeds, letting companies push a car past what an early public rollout would risk. Tesla, Waymo and Beep all use the facility, and Florida’s regulatory approach, among the most permissive for autonomous vehicles in the country, doesn’t require a human operator inside a fully autonomous car.
-
Tesla has reason to want the blessing of Florida and states beyond, as the Cybercab entered volume production at Gigafactory Texas this spring and has since self certified as SAE Level 4 under Texas law. Public road testing so far has kept a safety monitor in the passenger seat, and Florida is where Tesla has been expanding its existing Model Y based Robotaxi service instead, adding Miami in July and then Orlando and Tampa two weeks later. A closed track endorsement from a sitting governor doesn’t change any of that, but it does put Tesla’s newest hardware in front of a state that has already shown it will move fast on rules.
Tesla launches Powerwall Lease for affordable home backup
Elon Musk teases Tesla Roadster unveiling once again
