Tesla's push to roll out its Cybercab robotaxi service will challenge existing regulatory boundaries as the electric vehicle company starts offering paid rides in its sleek two-seat vehicles, which operate without steering wheels, pedals or mirrors.
Just hours after a recent event in downtown Austin, Texas, to mark the rollout, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it opened an audit of about 1,000 Cybercab vehicles to assess how Tesla determined the cars comply with federal vehicle-safety regulations.
U.S. regulators limit commercial deployment of vehicles that do not adhere to decades-old federal safety standards that were written for human-driven vehicles and require manual controls.
However, industry experts said regulatory gray areas and Elon Musk's litigious track record could give Tesla a chance to force the Cybercab into broad use anyway.
Amid a frenzy of fans and social media influencers in downtown Austin, Texas, Cybercabs were added to Tesla's robotaxi fleet that now operates its best-selling Model Y SUVs. Tesla said Cybercab rides were open to everyone and executives described pricing plans.
