Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Expand Robotaxi Services To San Francisco Bay Area 'In A Month Or Two'

Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk has said that the EV giant will expand its Robotaxi service to the San Francisco Bay Area.

What Happened: Responding to a post on social media platform X on Wednesday, Musk said the service will soon expand into the SF Bay Area. "Waiting on regulatory approvals, but probably in a month or two," Musk said in the post.

The service, which currently operates in a geofenced area in Austin, will also expand its serviceable locations. "Expanding to a larger service area in Austin this weekend," Musk said in another response to a post on X.

Why It Matters: Musk's comments come in as the billionaire's robotaxi ambitions have been under scrutiny in Austin by the NHTSA over possible traffic violations during last month's launch event.

Robotaxis have also received criticism following an incident in Austin when a Model Y robotaxi nearly hit a parked vehicle as it dropped a passenger off after finishing the ride.

The FSD or Full Self-Driving technology, a crucial element to the company's robotaxi plans, has received criticism for its camera-based approach, which is in contrast to competitor Alphabet Inc.'s GOOGL GOOG Waymo's LiDAR approach.

However, Tesla also recently had to pay almost $18,000 to a Model Y owner in an arbitration case for FSD after the company failed to disclose the safety rating system it uses to unlock supervised FSD for owners.

"It was clear Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving' was nowhere near autonomous," Marc Dobin, a Kirkland, Washington-based lawyer and Model Y owner, who filed the arbitration, said.

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