According to emails obtained by Bloomberg News, Tesla is considering various Texas cities, including Austin, for testing its long-awaited robotaxi service.
An employee has been in contact with Austin officials since May and recently conducted a training event in December for first responders to familiarize them with Tesla’s autonomous vehicle technology, which is still in the development phase.
The employee informed the city that while Austin is a potential location on their roadmap, the final decision on the deployment site has not been made yet as there are several options to consider. Tesla often creates competition between cities and states when deciding on business locations, similar to the bidding war that occurred for the location of its original Gigafactory.
According to the report, Tesla is not currently testing any vehicles on public roads. This may be due to the fact that despite unveiling a prototype for a “Cybercab” in October, the company has not yet delivered on Elon Musk’s promises of a fully self-driving Tesla or a robotaxi service.
