Tesla Readies a Taxi Service in San Francisco—but Not With Robotaxis

Tesla has publicly staked its future on its robotaxis. Now the company is planning to launch a public car service in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tesla is calling it a “robotaxi” service, but legally, this one will have to use cars with human drivers.

The plan appears to put the electric car maker in murky legal waters in a US state with the country’s most tightly regulated autonomous vehicle industry—and where Tesla is already being sued for misleading language around its driver assistance tech.

On Friday, a spokesperson for the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates ride-hailing and taxi services in the state, said that Tesla informed the agency Thursday that it planned to expand an employee-only taxi service to friends and family of employees and “select” members ...