Tesla Robotaxi Will Reach Functionality By The End Of 2020, Regulatory Approval Still Pending

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a plan to launch the company's Robotaxi by the end of 2020.

Last year, at Tesla Autonomy Day, Musk introduced the Tesla Network, which will allow electric car owners as ridehailing vehicles while they aren't in use. According to the preliminary plan, by 2020 Tesla cars will work like Uber or Lyft cars and offer ridehailing services called Robotaxis. Owners will be able to earn income from this, and the company will take a small commission from the money earned by cars. Tesla owners will be able to decide when to share their vehicles.

This plan is still valid and, according to Musk, the only issue is the regulatory authorities.

Functionality still looking good for this year. Regulatory approval is the big unknown.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 12, 2020

Tesla currently offers Autopilot, which is a very competent set of advanced driver assistance systems. Autopilot works well thanks to Tesla's Hardware 3 (HW3) which uses processors that are optimized to with neural networks.

The introduction of the new module will allow Tesla cars to move from point A to point B along the highway and city streets, as well as recognize markings, traffic lights, signs, people, animals, traffic accidents, trash bins, and other objects.

The HW3 runs on a Tesla chip of its own design, which is installed in all of Tesla's vehicles released since April 2019. According to experts, HW3 could be the most advanced in the world. Thanks to this, the company's cars are ahead of rivals for 6 years.

Tesla cars can predict the actions of the driver of another car and take safety measures, such as braking, accelerating, or driving away. The cars made by the California automaker does not use complex laser sensors like lidars--as other companies do--because they are ineffective and even dangerous during fog or heavy rain. The company relies on eight cameras located around the perimeter of electric vehicles, radar and ultrasonic sensors. At the moment, Tesla makes a free replacement of HW2.5 to HW3.

In order to better prepare Tesla cars for use in the Robotaxi park, Model 3 from the very beginning had an internal camera. Tesla says this device has been inactive all the time, but Musk told in Twitter that it will serve as a means of monitoring passengers when Robotaxi park is launched.

It seems that Tesla is actively moving towards achieving its goals.