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Tesla said it completed its first fully autonomous vehicle delivery from factory to customer. A video posted on X shows the vehicle \u2014 a Tesla Model Y \u2014 leaving the company\u2019s Austin Gigafactory, driving on the highway, passing through suburban sprawl and residential neighborhoods, before arriving at a customer\u2019s apartment building.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Tesla CEO Elon Musk had promised the first fully autonomous delivery would take place on June 28th. But on Friday, he announced that the milestone had been achieved a day early.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThere were no people in the car at all and no remote operators in control at any point. FULLY autonomous!\u201d Musk wrote on X. \u201cTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first fully autonomous drive with no people in the car or remotely operating the car on a public highway.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But Tesla\u2019s achievement is still notable, especially when you consider the rocky rollout of the company\u2019s robotaxi service. The robotaxis launched with safety monitors in the passenger seat<\/a> with access to a kill switch, and within a few days, the vehicles were recorded committing several safety lapses<\/a>, including driving over the double-yellow line into the opposite lane of traffic and hard braking in the middle of the road for no apparent reason.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n By proving it can operate fully autonomous vehicles on highways without a safety monitor present in the vehicle, Tesla is able to demonstrate that its Full Self-Driving system is getting closer to Musk\u2019s promise of \u201cunsupervised\u201d driving<\/a>. The robotaxis aren\u2019t quite there yet, still requiring safety monitors and remote supervisors. That leaves Tesla in limbo between confidence that its technology can handle the driving without anyone in the vehicle, but less confident when there\u2019s a human being riding inside.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n