Tesla wants to bring robotaxis to San Francisco. Here’s what’s standing in the way.

Summary

Tesla is launching an even-more-limited version of its early robotaxi service in San Francisco this weekend, according to Business Insider, after an initial rollout began last month in Austin, Texas. The company plans to send invites to Tesla owners to test the service, according to the report. Depending on how and if Tesla proceeds, its actions could violate state regulations — and even if there’s a human safety driver sitting behind the wheel while its vehicles operate autonomously. Two state agencies regulate aspects of autonomous vehicles in California. The California Department of Motor Vehicles regulates the testing and deployment of autonomous vehicles, and requires permits for all three stages: testing with a driver, testing without a driver, and driverless deployment. Tesla holds a permit for testing autonomous vehicles with a human safety operator behind the wheel. It doesn’t have a permit for driverless testing or deployment. And as of Wednesday it had not yet applied for additional permits, according to the DMV. (Mercedes-Benz, Nuro, and Waymo are the only three companies that hold driverless deployment permits.) Nor does Tesla have the proper permits from the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates the commercial aspects of ride-hailing and chartered transportation by humans as well as those steered by autonomous vehicle systems. Tesla has a Transportation Charter Party permit, which allows a human driver to drive a traditional vehicle (not an AV) for charter services with the public, CPUC spokesperson Terrie Prosper told TechCrunch in an email. Techcrunch event San Francisco | October 27-29, 2025 This is distinctly different from an autonomous vehicle permit for passenger transportation, according to Prosper. So-called AV authorizations, which Tesla doesn’t have, allows for the testing and deployment of autonomous vehicles with or without a driver. Tesla has not received approval from the CPUC to offer autonomous passenger service to cu...