As Robotaxi Rides Begin, We Still Don't Know the Mystery of Tesla’s Human Helpers

Neither the US federal government nor the City of Austin will say how teleoperations, self-driving’s critical safety feature, will be used in the service launching in Austin in just a matter of days.

Self-driving vehicle developers don’t usually love talking about “teleoperation”—when a human guides or drives robot cars remotely. It can feel like a dirty secret. Shouldn’t an autonomous vehicle operate, well, autonomously?

But experts say teleoperations are, at least right now, a critical part of any robot taxi service, including Tesla's Robotaxi. The tech, though impressive, is still in development, and the autonomous systems still need humans to guide them through less-common and especially sticky road situations. Plus, a bedrock principle of safety engineering is that every system needs a backup—doubly so for new robotic ones that involve two-ton EVs driving themselves on public roads ...