Musk: Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) Austin Robotaxi service will open to the public in September.

According to a message posted on social media by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US), Tesla, Inc.'s Robotaxi service in Austin will be open to the public in September. It is worth noting that Tesla, Inc. recently received all necessary permits to expand its statewide operations in Texas and will operate this service as a licensed transportation network company until August 2026. In June of this year, Tesla, Inc. officially launched its Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, and started picking up its first batch of passengers. The pilot service initially targeted a small number of users and had a limited fleet size. Over the past month and a half, Tesla, Inc. has been expanding the number of trial users and the geographical range of its Robotaxi service. In addition to Texas, Tesla, Inc. has also launched its Robotaxi service in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, but with slight differences. In the Texas service, safety monitors sit in the front passenger seat, while in California, safety monitors sit in the driver's seat. Analyst Ronald Jewsikow of investment bank Guggenheim believes that the opening of the Robotaxi service to the public in Austin and the FSD (Full-Self Driving) upgrade are both positive for Tesla, Inc. He stated that the early opening of the Robotaxi service in Austin shows Tesla, Inc.'s confidence in the service and the positive feedback received from invited users. The analyst expressed, "We believe the expanded version of the FSD mode is a positive signal for long-term investors who are interested in the potential for Tesla, Inc. to eventually transition its fleet into Robotaxis. The opening of the Robotaxi service in Austin to the public is a key step in attracting potential key consumers. Although safety drivers will still be retained and no removal timeline has been provided, long-term investors have been willing to overlook the presence of safety drivers in Tesla, Inc. vehicles, and we see no reason to change that attitude now."