News
Tesla Robotaxi’s biggest challenge seems to be this one thing
That big bright thing in the sky might be Tesla’s biggest challenge in terms of Robotaxi.

Tesla Robotaxi launched just a few days ago to a limited number of riders in Austin, Texas, but its biggest challenge seems to be how the automaker will figure out one thing: the Sun.
Among the company’s unique strategies, its emphasis on using cameras for self-driving is perhaps the most interesting. No other company has adopted the same strategy, as others have relied on cameras with either sensors or LiDAR rigs to accomplish their self-driving deployments.
Tesla, on the other hand, has called LiDAR unnecessary. CEO Elon Musk once called it “a fool’s errand,” stating it was not needed to build an effective self-driving fleet of vehicles.
Musk compared cameras to eyes. Humans don’t need sensors or LiDAR to operate vehicles on the road, so why should cars? This brought up some questions, especially regarding sun glare. Musk said that Tesla would use direct photon counting to see directly into brigt sunlight or even in the darkest conditions at night.
His quote during a recent earnings call was:
“Actually, it does not blind the camera. We use an approach which is direct photon count. When you see a processed image, so the image that goes from the sort of photon counter — the silicon photon counter — that then goes through a digital signal processor or image signal processor, that’s normally what happens. And then the image that you see looks all washed out, because if you point the camera at the sun, the post-processing of the photon counting washes things out.”
So far, this strategy has yielded mixed results. We have seen examples of both:
The Good
We’ve had a handful of people state that they have had no issue using the Robotaxi when it is driving into direct sunlight.
There are plenty of examples:
Robotaxi seems to have no trouble driving into the sun. More to come pic.twitter.com/rZdd3Sya8k
— Dirty Tesla (@DirtyTesLa) June 25, 2025
Tons of direct sun glare during many of my Tesla Robotaxi rides today in Austin. The vehicles handled it with no problem. pic.twitter.com/3kyiQF4RMs
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 24, 2025
Absolutely ZERO issues heading into direct sunlight in our Robotaxi, been going for almost an hour now during golden hour/sunset. As smooth as it always is. pic.twitter.com/iSCp6qdNC0
— Zack (@BLKMDL3) June 25, 2025
The Bad
🚗 Day 1 of Robotaxi testing with 20 initial riders! Caught a rare phantom braking moment on camera during our Waymo vs. Tesla Robotaxi race. 🤖 It’s a one-off glitch in Full Self-Driving mode—most rides were smooth! Drop your thoughts! 👀 pic.twitter.com/liJGSIIHKw
— Kim Java (@ItsKimJava) June 24, 2025
The Verdict
This is obviously a weird case, and it seems that this could be one of the challenges Tesla will face with the deployment of Robotaxi.
While it will get figured out, this is something that could ultimately push back Tesla’s goal of having no safety monitor in the vehicles. However, the instance will be learned and used to improve in the future through its Neural Nets.
The first intervention was captured yesterday, requiring the Tesla safety monitor to stop the vehicle manually on the car’s touchscreen.
News
SpaceX aces Starship test flight 10 with successful payload deployment
The mission began at 6:30 p.m. local time in Starbase, Texas, when the launch of Starship initiated. After about eight minutes, stage separation was completed, and the Super Heavy Booster headed back down to Earth for a planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean:

SpaceX aced its tenth Starship test flight on Tuesday night after multiple delays pushed the mission back to this evening. Originally scheduled for Sunday night, SpaceX had two delays push the flight back to Tuesday, which ultimately provided ideal conditions for a launch attempt.
The tenth test flight of Starship had several objectives, including a successful splashdown of the booster in the Gulf of America, the deployment of eight Starlink simulation modules from the PEZ dispenser, and a splashdown of the ship in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX successfully achieved all three of these objectives, making it one of the most successful test flights in the Starship program. There was no attempt to catch the booster this evening, as the company had been transparent about it ahead of the launch.
The mission began at 6:30 p.m. local time in Starbase, Texas, when the launch of Starship initiated. After about eight minutes, stage separation was completed, and the Super Heavy Booster headed back down to Earth for a planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean:
Super Heavy has splashed down in the Gulf pic.twitter.com/LGozUAmLt8
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 26, 2025
Starship was then the main focus of the rest of the broadcast as it completed its ascent burn and coasted through space, providing viewers with spectacular views as the mission headed toward new territory, including the deployment of Starlink simulators. This would be the first time SpaceX would attempt a payload deployment.
The deployment works like a PEZ dispenser, as the simulators were stacked on top of one another and would exit through a small slit one at a time.
This occurred roughly 20 minutes into the mission:
Open the pod bay door, HAL
Starship deploying @Starlink simulator sats pic.twitter.com/3CSOyulzcJ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 26, 2025
An hour and six minutes into the flight, Starship reached its final destination, which was the Indian Ocean. A successful splashdown would bring closure to Starship’s tenth test flight, marking the fifth time a test flight in the program’s history did not end with vehicle loss.
It was also the first of four test flights this year that will end with Starship being recovered.
Splashdown confirmed! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting tenth flight test of Starship! pic.twitter.com/5sbSPBRJBP
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 27, 2025
SpaceX is expected to launch Starship again in approximately eight weeks, pending the collection of data and other key metrics from this flight.
News
WATCH: SpaceX attempts Starship’s tenth test flight after two delays
This evening, SpaceX has already stated that conditions appear to be approximately 45 percent favorable for launch. This is ten percent less than last night, when the mission was eventually scrapped around 7 p.m. local time.

SpaceX is set to launch Starship tonight, provided the weather cooperates and everything with the ship goes smoothly.
This is SpaceX’s third attempt to launch Starship for its tenth test flight, with Sunday’s and Monday’s attempts both being scrapped due to a leak and unfavorable weather conditions on the respective days.
This evening, SpaceX has already stated that conditions appear to be approximately 45 percent favorable for launch. This is ten percent less than last night, when the mission was eventually scrapped around 7 p.m. local time.
Propellant load of the upper stage and Super Heavy booster is already underway, and the launch is expected to occur at 6:30 p.m. in Starbase, Texas.
You can watch the tenth test flight of Starship below via SpaceX:
Watch Starship’s tenth flight test → https://t.co/UIwbeGoo2B https://t.co/BFrpQPQFUw
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 26, 2025
News
Tesla one-ups Waymo once again with latest Robotaxi expansion in Austin
Tesla’s new Robotaxi geofence measures roughly 171 square miles of Austin’s downtown and suburbs. This is more than double the size of Waymo’s geofence, which measures 90 square miles.

Tesla’s expansion of the Robotaxi geofence on Tuesday morning was a one-up on Waymo once again, as the automaker’s service area growth helps eclipse its rival in an intense back-and-forth.
A lot of conversation has been made about Tesla’s rivalry with Waymo in terms of the capabilities of its driverless ride-sharing service in Austin, Texas.
The two companies have sparred with one another, answering each other’s expansion, and continuing to compete, all to the benefit of consumers in the region.
Tesla expanded the geofence of Robotaxi once again this morning, and it is another growth that catapults it past Waymo’s service area in Austin — this time by a considerable margin.
Comparison of Tesla’s vs Waymo’s Robotaxi geofence map in Austin, Texas.
Today, @Tesla again massively expanded their geofence area, making it significantly bigger than Waymo’s. pic.twitter.com/tHLJ2qabZJ
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 26, 2025
Tesla’s new Robotaxi geofence measures roughly 171 square miles of Austin’s downtown and suburbs. This is more than double the size of Waymo’s geofence, which measures 90 square miles.
On July 14, Tesla officially overtook Waymo in terms of service area in Austin. But just a few days later, Waymo had responded with a bold statement, expanding from 37 square miles to 90 square miles.
Sarfraz Maredia, Global Head of Autonomous Mobility & Delivery at Uber, said the move “unlock[ed] another key milestone in Austin as our operating territory with Waymo expands from 37 to 90 square miles, which means that even more riders can experience Waymo’s fully autonomous vehicles through the Uber app.”
Tesla did not respond immediately, but it took its time with validation vehicle testing in the Austin suburbs, as we reported yesterday:
Tesla looks to expand Robotaxi geofence once again with testing in new area
Today’s expansion is perhaps the biggest step Tesla has taken in its efforts to continue to grow its Robotaxi platform. This is not only because the company has significantly expanded the size of the geofence, but also because it has ventured into suburban areas and even included Gigafactory Texas in its service area.
Waymo could come up with another timely response as it did when Tesla expanded in late July. We’ll wait to see what it comes up with, as this awesome competition between the two companies is accelerating innovation.
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