(Tesla)

Taxi Confidential

Tesla’s robotaxi launch, by the numbers

It was very small but not bad! Tesla bull Dan Ives loved it.

6/23/25 8:09AM

After years of delays, Tesla’s long-awaited robotaxi finally launched yesterday in Austin. And by many accounts it was successful, with its stock surging more than 8% this morning.

The service was much less exciting than what normal people might consider a true autonomous ride service, since...

it was within a well-mapped subsection of the city,
there was a safety monitor in the front passenger seat,
it had remote operators ready to potentially step in as well as chase cars, in some instances following behind,
it only operates from 6 a.m. to midnight in good weather,
and only a chosen few pro-Tesla influencers were invited.

The circumscribed launch still got off the ground without a major hitch.

Here’s what we know about the launch from watching numerous livestreams from those lucky enough to get a backseat to the launch.

Invitees: 20+

Based on this X list by Australian tech writer Jason Cartwright, plus a couple we noticed not on the list, there were about 20 people who received invites to use the robotaxi at launch. The invites pretty much all went to pro-Tesla influencers, who livestreamed and posted about their experiences for their audiences.

Vehicles: >10

While a number of reports said there were 10 to 20 robotaxis available, it looks like as many as 35 Model Ys were on the road. Google’s Waymo, of course, is operating more than 100 driverless vehicles in Austin.

Cost: $4.20

The initial Tesla robotaxi riders were charged a flat fee of $4.20 per ride because CEO Elon Musk is gonna Musk. It didn’t allow tips. We don’t know what it will ultimately cost when the service is opened up to the public.

Coverage square milage: N/A

While we don’t know the exact square milage of the Tesla geofence, public screenshots show the geofenced area to be located south of the Colorado river in areas including South Congress and South Lamar — very popular tourist areas. Google’s Waymo, for comparison, covers 37 miles in Austin, including areas north of the Colorado River, where downtown Austin is located.

Other people in the car: 1

Tesla is obviously pushing the limits of what autonomous driving means, considering each robotaxi ride yesterday had a “Tesla Safety Monitor” sitting in the front passenger seat. While some of the riders tried to interact with the monitors to ask them questions about the service, they were mostly mum. A number of people pointed out that the safety monitors had their hands glued to the door button, presumably programmed to stop the car in case of an incident.

Software: not FSD (Supervised) 13.2.9

Musk has said the vehicles are unmodified, new Model Ys that are running a newer, “unsupervised” version of FSD (Supervised) 13.2.9 that owners of newer Teslas have. Musk says this robotaxi version will merge with the other branch “soon.”

A number of the robotaxi riders we watched said the software and ride felt very similar to what they’ve experienced in their own Teslas with the supervised software.

Major incidents: 0

While there were a number of small incidents, including this one (embedded below) where the robotaxi mistakenly got in the turning lane when it was supposed to go straight and then repeatedly veered left and straight in an intersection, overall it seemed like the first day of the robotaxi launch went off without any major hitches.

Tesla bull and Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, who expects autonomous to add $1 trillion to Tesla’s market cap, had a great experience. “We took two approximately 15 minute rides around Austin and the key takeaways are that it was a comfortable, safe, and personalized experience,” he wrote yesterday. “To really put it into perspective, there was a moment where we drove up a narrow road going up a hill with cars parked on both sides with oncoming traffic and people opening their car doors into the road and the Robotaxi masterfully maneuvered with patience and safety among this chaos.”

Of course, if Tesla expands any of its parameters — number of vehicles, who can ride, coverage area — the results may vary.

Stock price: +8%

As of 10:25 a.m. ET, Tesla’s stock was trading up more than 8% on the successful launch of the service, which Musk has said is integral to the future of the company.

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Jon Keegan12/24/25

Chinese AI chatbots reportedly must answer 2,000 questions, prove censorship compliance

For American companies building AI today, it’s basically a free-for-all, a self-regulation zone with zero federal restrictions.

But for Chinese AI companies, the Chinese Communist Party exerts strict control over what models get released and what questions they cannot answer.

A report in The Wall Street Journal details the rigorous tests that AI models are subjected to before being released on the global stage to compete with Western AI models.

AI models must answer 2,000 questions that are frequently updated and achieve a 95% refusal rate for queries related to forbidden topics, like the Tiananmen Square massacre or human rights violations, according to the report.

The strict regulatory framework does have some safety advantages, such as preventing chatbots from sharing violent or pornographic material as well as protections from self-harm, an issue that American AI companies are currently wrestling with.

China Is Worried AI Threatens Party Rule—and Is Trying to Tame It

A report in The Wall Street Journal details the rigorous tests that AI models are subjected to before being released on the global stage to compete with Western AI models.

Rani Molla & Jon Keegan12/24/25

Report: OpenAI has started mocking up what ads in ChatGPT could look like

2025 saw OpenAI ink a flurry of massive deals. To pay for it all, the company has realized that it can’t get there on $20-per-month subscriptions alone; it also needs to monetize its hundreds of millions of free users.

To this end, despite repeatedly denying that ads are coming to ChatGPT, a new report says OpenAI is actually working through all those details.

Citing people familiar with the discussions, The Information reports employees have discussed different ways to prioritize sponsored information in ChatGPT in response to relevant queries.

Since ChatGPT burst onto the scene in late 2022, its offerings have been ad-free, relying instead on a freemium subscription model. But with Google recently telling advertisers it plans to bring ads to Gemini next year, and with OpenAI burning through truckloads of cash, the pressure to follow suit is growing.

OpenAI is looking at its AI model-developing competitors Meta and Google, which are pulling in hundreds of billions of dollars per year in advertising revenue, to arrive at this conclusion. It’s also seemingly inspired by Amazon’s (and Google’s) idea of sponsored product placement.

Per the report, in addition to trying to build new kinds of ad units, OpenAI is considering a few options:

Leaning into chats that are clearly about buying a product and giving priority placement to sponsored results — though this works out to only about 2.1% of queries, according to OpenAI.
Showing ads based on the treasure trove of information it has on users, by mining their chat histories.
A “sponsored” sidebar showing ads related to the conversation.

But the company realizes it has to be careful to not turn off users, who might not trust a chatbot that peppers sensitive conversations with ads.

OpenAI’s Ads Push Starts Taking Shape

Citing people familiar with the discussions, The Information reports employees have discussed different ways to prioritize sponsored information in ChatGPT in response to relevant queries.

Per the report, in addition to trying to build new kinds of ad units, OpenAI is considering a few options:

Leaning into chats that are clearly about buying a product and giving priority placement to sponsored results — though this works out to only about 2.1% of queries, according to OpenAI.
Showing ads based on the treasure trove of information it has on users, by mining their chat histories.
A “sponsored” sidebar showing ads related to the conversation.

But the company realizes it has to be careful to not turn off users, who might not trust a chatbot that peppers sensitive conversations with ads.

Rani Molla12/24/25

NHTSA investigates Tesla Model 3 over concerns mechanical door release is “not readily accessible or easily identifiable”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday it is investigating the emergency exit controls on 179,071 model year 2022 Tesla Model 3 vehicles after receiving a defect petition alleging the vehicles’ “mechanical door release is hidden, unlabeled, and not intuitive to locate during an emergency.”

The investigation is separate from a probe the agency announced this fall into instances of electronic door handles on 2021 Tesla Model Y vehicles becoming inoperable from the outside.

The action follows a series of reporting from Bloomberg examining the role of Tesla’s door designs in accident fatalities. Tesla has previously said it is working on redesigns to its door handles.

Jon Keegan12/23/25

FCC bans new Chinese drones and components from DJI and Autel Robotics

Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission banned new drones and critical components from the market-leading Chinese drone manufacturer DJI and smaller firm Autel Robotics, calling the foreign-made drones “an unacceptable national security risk.”

The ban covers all drones and related components from any foreign manufacturer. DJI dominates the worldwide (nonmilitary) drone market, with a market share greater than 90%, according to some estimates.

In addition to hobbyists, the quadcopter-style drones made by DJI are used heavily in a wide variety of industries, including agriculture, infrastructure inspection, real estate, and also by first responders. Blocking foreign drones leaves many critical fields without a viable US-made alternative, as the industry has struggled to develop new supply chains that don’t come from China and match the quality of DJI’s hardware and software.

Shares of Florida-based drone builder Unusual Machines are up over 8% in early trading. Donald Trump Jr. is an investor and adviser to the company.

DJI has said its drones do not present a security risk and that it welcomes a national security review, noting that its drones can be used without an internet connection and all data is saved locally.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr said:

“I welcome this Executive Branch national security determination, and I am pleased that the FCC has now added foreign drones and related components, which pose an unacceptable national security risk, to the FCC’s Covered List. Following President Trump’s leadership, the FCC will work closely with U.S. drone makers to unleash American drone dominance.”

U.S. Bans New China-Made Drones, Sparking Outrage Among Pilots

Shares of Florida-based drone builder Unusual Machines are up over 8% in early trading. Donald Trump Jr. is an investor and adviser to the company.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr said:

“I welcome this Executive Branch national security determination, and I am pleased that the FCC has now added foreign drones and related components, which pose an unacceptable national security risk, to the FCC’s Covered List. Following President Trump’s leadership, the FCC will work closely with U.S. drone makers to unleash American drone dominance.”

Rani Molla12/23/25

Tesla’s EU sales fell nearly 40% in the first 11 months of 2025

From January through November of this year, Tesla sales fell 39% to 129,000 in the European Union compared with the first 11 months of 2024, according to new data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, known as ACEA. In that same time, sales of Chinese competitor BYD grew 240% to 110,000. BYD first outsold Tesla there this spring, but Tesla is still outpacing BYD for the year.

Overall, sales of battery electric vehicles in the EU rose 28%.

Tesla has struggled throughout this year in Europe, its third-biggest market — something CEO Elon Musk has blamed on Europe’s lack of regulatory approval for its Full Self-Driving tech, though the decline likely has more to do with competition from China.

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