Musk has a vision for Tesla’s Robotaxi. Others can’t see it.

livemint.com:

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has made clear that he is making robotaxis a centerpiece of his long-term strategy. The hard part will come next. This summer Tesla plans to show a future model—which is expected to have no steering wheel and pedals—that the automaker can deploy in its own, Uber-like ride-hailing service.

Musk last week floated the idea of allowing owners to rent out their robotic Teslas, comparing it to Airbnb. The strategy amounts to a sizable bet on a yet-to-be-built car underpinned by technology that remains under development. A combination of regulatory ambiguity and technology hurdles make widespread deployment of driverless taxis any time soon a long shot, analysts say.

“Robotaxis are likely years away from mass-market adoption," said RBC Capital analyst Tom Narayan. It is also a concept that is years beyond its deliverable date: Musk and many tech and auto executives once predicted that robotaxis would be ubiquitous on U.S. roadways by now.

But Musk—a self-described optimist who has missed deadlines in the past—is leaning into the autonomy story. And investors are cheering him on. Today, a complicated, evolving patchwork of rules govern autonomous vehicles.

Musk’s plan to deploy self-driving cars on public roads is expected to set up a face-off with federal regulators, which already are looking into the automaker’s advanced driver-assistance technology and how it has been rolled out to customers. Technological hurdles will take years to overcome, many experts say. Today’s most sophisticated robotaxis require remote human operators to step in when the vehicles encounter situations they cannot handle.