“This is a demo or test using safety drivers—it’s not an [autonomous vehicle] deployment,” says Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina who studies autonomous vehicles. “Tesla is splashing around in the kiddie pool and everyone is asking where it’s going to place in the Olympic swim competition.”

Bloopers and Sensors

Tesla has kept quiet about many of the particulars of its technology. And it’s hard to reach definite conclusions about its tech from social media posts uploaded by riders. But some of those posts appear to show less-than-smooth rides. In one video, a robotaxi attempting to make a left turn appears to cross a double yellow line into oncoming traffic. In another, a robotaxi apparently fails to detect a UPS truck stopping and reversing to park, and the front seat safety monitor has to intervene to stop the car.

One YouTuber uploaded a video showing a robotaxi “phantom braking”—suddenly coming to a stop for no apparent reason—a phenomenon that’s also been flagged by hundreds of users of Tesla’s less-advanced Full Self-Driving (Supervised) feature and investigated by the federal government. Unlike actual self-driving technology, Full Self-Driving (Supervised) requires users to keep their eyes on the road.

The service pauses for bad weather, according to Tesla’s website. One YouTuber had their ride halted for a rainstorm; the robotaxi dropped the rider in an Austin park as the wind began to whip around them. Minutes later, according to a video, the same Robotaxi picked the creator up to continue their ride. However, contradicting the above, one poster