Gia Motors News According to Bloomberg, Tesla is in preliminary discussions with the city of Austin on its self-driving car technology, hoping to deploy self-driving cars on Texas roads as early as next year.
Image source: Tesla, An email obtained by Bloomberg shows that a Tesla employee has been communicating with the Austin-based Autonomous Vehicle Working Group since at least May to clarify expectations for autonomous vehicles.
Currently, Tesla is considering whether to make Austin its first city to deploy a driverless fleet in Texas.
, “Tesla is still trying to find a city in Texas to deploy.
Austin is clearly within our consideration, but we have not yet made a final decision because we have many options,” the employee said in an email in November.
Bloomberg reported that the Tesla employee had contacted Austin before the company’s Self-Driving Taxi Day and expressed interest in joining the city’s Self-Driving Car Working Group.
The employee said Tesla’s goal is to meet Austin’s safety expectations and train emergency personnel on how to interact with vehicles.
Austin’s Autonomous Vehicle Working Group was formed last year to formalize communication around the emerging technology.
The organization works with self-driving car companies and citizens to collect feedback and accident data and establish safety training and procedures.
The working group is mainly composed of first responders and city transportation departments, and works with companies that are conducting autonomous driving tests in the city, including Waymo, Volkswagen and Zoox.
, On December 5, Tesla held an event in Austin to train emergency personnel on how to best use Tesla’s self-driving car technology.
An email showed that the training may help advance Tesla’s deployment strategy.
Prior to this, the employee said that Tesla did not conduct tests on public roads in Texas, but would only conduct tests in Tesla’s Austin Superfactory Park, and state and local authorities would be notified of new changes.
, However, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson has been outspoken about the technology, especially the autonomous driving company Cruise.
Watson said in March that while autonomous driving technology is “very promising,” it has not yet been realized.
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