Musk wants to get rid of Tesla’s robotic babysitters “by the end of the year”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk expects the company to be able to do so Remove the safety screens from her robot “By the end of the year.” He also said that Tesla will launch its robotaxi service in 8 to 10 new markets as well before the end of 2025.

“We expect to have no safe drivers in at least large parts of Austin by the end of this year,” Musk said on an earnings call with investors. “So, in a few months, we expect to have no safe drivers at all, at least in parts of Austin. And obviously we’re being very cautious about the rollout.”

Tesla’s robo-taxis in Austin and San Francisco include safety monitors with kill switch access, an alternative Waymo doesn’t currently need for its commercial robo-taxi service. The safety screen is located in the passenger seat in Austin and in the driver’s seat in San Francisco. Musk said the human monitors are only there because Tesla is “paranoid about safety,” not because of some shortcoming in the company’s technology.

“It’s clear that just one incident will make front-page headlines around the world,” Musk added. “So we better take a cautious approach here.”

Musk also said he expects Tesla to launch robotaxis in 8 to 10 new states before the end of the year, excluding No organizational hiccups. He pointed to Nevada, Florida and Arizona as among those future markets. It’s not clear how many robotaxis Tesla operates in Austin; The last number the company provided to state officials was about 20. Tesla’s robotaxis in Austin have covered “more than a quarter of a million miles,” while its cars in San Francisco have covered “more than a million miles,” said Ashok Elswami, vice president of artificial intelligence programs.

Musk explained that Tesla will have safety monitoring devices in the vehicles it launches in new markets. “Even if regulators do not force us to do this, we will still do it as the correct and cautious approach to the new market.”

Previously, Musk predicted that Tesla would have robotaxis available to “50 percent” of the US population by the end of the year, and that Tesla customers would be able to upgrade their own cars to drive autonomously without supervision by the end of 2025.