Welcome back to the latest episode of “The Future of Automotive” on CBT News, where we put recent automotive and mobility news into the context of the broader themes impacting the industry.
I’m Steve Greenfield from Automotive Ventures, and I’m glad that you could join us.
This week, we’re following breaking developments in the world of autonomous vehicles — and once again, the story centers around Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
After months of hype, delays, and no shortage of bold promises, Tesla now says it will officially launch its long-promised robotaxi service in Austin, Texas — this June. Not necessarily because it’s ready… but because it has to.
This all started last year, when Musk abruptly shelved Tesla’s affordable electric car project and instead pivoted to unveiling a robotaxi — an announcement that was supposed to steal the headlines. It didn’t.
The August debut was pushed to October, and that October event? It was, frankly, a bust. No real robotaxis. Just vehicles on a closed studio lot, and guests reportedly heckling Musk about when — or if — we’d see the real thing hit the streets.
Since then, Tesla’s core EV business has taken a hit. But Musk’s repeated insistence that robotaxis are coming in June has helped keep Tesla’s stock aloft — some say artificially — at a trillion-dollar valuation.
But now, with June fast approaching, missing another deadline isn’t an option. What we’ll likely see in Austin, however, isn’t the sweeping vision Musk originally pitched — fleets of fully autonomous Teslas navigating any road, anytime. Instead, expect what some in the industry are calling a “minimum viable robotaxi.” A small test fleet, operating under very tight constraints.
According to Musk, Tesla’s cars will only drive in pre-approved “safe” zones. If the software lacks confidence navigating a specific intersection, it’ll avoid it. Tesla will also use geofencing — limiting the cars to certain areas — a sharp reversal from Musk’s longtime claim that Tesla’s software could operate anywhere, without human intervention.
In Musk’s own words: “We’re going to be extremely paranoid about the deployment, as we should be.”
The pilot program will reportedly launch with about 10 Model Y vehicles, monitored remotely by Tesla staff. And yes — those cars will be driving without anyone behind the wheel.
Meanwhile, in a rare admission of just how far Tesla still has to go, Ashok Elluswamy, the company’s head of AI and self-driving, acknowledged Tesla is “a couple years” behind Google’s Waymo — a competitor already operating fully autonomous rides in cities like Phoenix and San Francisco.
Asked directly whether Tesla’s system is cheaper but just as good, Elluswamy replied, quote: “Equal quality. Technically, Waymo is already performing. We are maybe lagging by a couple years.”
That’s a surprising shift in tone from a company — and a CEO — that’s long dismissed the competition as irrelevant.
For now, Tesla remains stuck at Level 2 autonomy — that’s industry jargon for driver-assistance tech that still requires someone behind the wheel, paying full attention.
So as we head into June, all eyes will be on Austin. Is this the dawn of a self-driving revolution — or just another chapter in Tesla’s long history of overpromising and underdelivering?
The world will be watching.
So, with that, let’s transition to Our Companies to Watch.
Every week we highlight interesting companies in the automotive technology space to keep an eye on. If you read my weekly Intel Report, we showcase a company to watch, and we take the opportunity here on this segment each week to share that company with you.
Today, our new company to watch is EPIC.
EPIC offers automotive dealerships full coverage lien & and title release.
Dealerships can streamline their loan payoff to title release process to deliver improved cash flow and maximize profit opportunity from faster turnarounds.
The manual process of collecting loan payoff information, releasing liens and obtaining titles is time-consuming and can come with costly errors and delays. With EPIC, you gain access to more information, enhanced reliability and overall faster lien and title releases.
From loan payoff, to lien release, to title release and more, deliver a smoother experience for your customers and unlock improved financial results for your business – all in a few simple steps.
Delivering a modernized solution for automotive dealers and vehicle lenders, EPIC provides full coverage support of every step of the lien and title release process to meet the demands of your business.
If you’d like to learn more about EPIC, you can check them out at www.withepic.com
So that’s it for this week’s Future of Automotive segment.
If you’re an AutoTech entrepreneur working on a solution that helps car dealerships, we want to hear from you. We are actively investing out of our DealerFund.
Don’t forget to check out my first book, “The Future of Automotive Retail,” and my new book, “The Future of Mobility”, both of which are available on Amazon.
Thanks (as always) for your ongoing support and for tuning into CBT News for this week’s Future of Automotive segment. We’ll see you next week!
