Tesla sends driverless Model Y from factory to customer to promote its robotaxi tech

Tesla recently demonstrated a milestone in its autonomous driving technology by allowing a Model Y SUV to drive approximately 15 miles from its factory to a customer’s apartment in Austin, Texas, without a driver on board. CEO Elon Musk described this as the first “autonomous delivery” of a customer car. The vehicle was initially equipped with the same software used in Tesla’s limited robotaxi service launched in Austin but was downgraded upon delivery to the commercially available Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, which still requires driver supervision. Musk claimed no remote assistance was involved during the trip, which included complex maneuvers such as highway merges, right turns on red, roundabouts, and unprotected left turns, highlighting significant progress in Tesla’s self-driving capabilities. Despite this achievement, the demonstration raises several questions about the preparations and reliability of Tesla’s autonomous system. Tesla has a history of promoting ambitious self-driving claims, including a 2016 video that was later admitted to be staged and not representative of