Former Robotaxi Company Tensor to Offer Self-Driving Cars to the Public

What Happened?

Former robotaxi company Tensor has announced it plans to begin selling fully autonomous, self-driving vehicles to the public in January 2027. Tensor, which was formerly known as Auto X, has been providing autonomous taxi services in California and China since 2016. Tensor recently divested from its Chinese holdings and returned to San Jose, California.

According to Amy Luca, the head of marketing for Tensor, the company is now focused exclusively on providing self-driving vehicles to private owners instead of to corporate fleets for taxi services in major cities.

Why it Matters

Self-driving taxi services have grown in the past five years, especially in major metro areas like Phoenix and San Francisco. Waymo currently operates the largest fleet of two thousand five hundred autonomous taxis operating in Austin, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Thus far, self-driving vehicles have been limited to large companies in big cities, but Tensor’s sale of autonomous vehicles to individual private owners would be the first of its kind. 

According to Motortrend, Tensor’s Robocar is a full level four autonomous vehicle, which means it can drive itself even without any humans inside. Currently, the most capable self-driving car available for private purchase comes from Tesla, but Tesla’s products still require a human driver to be in the driver’s seat while the vehicle is in motion. Robocar could make grocery store runs or other pickups while the human owner was at work or in their home, which could potentially transform the way cars are used.

If fully autonomous vehicles like Robocar perform well after going on sale, it could change the way people see self-driving cars. A recent poll cited by the Economist found that nearly three-quarters of those surveyed did not trust self-driving cars to be safe on roadways. Building trust with the public could also mean connecting with millions of potential buyers, which could usher in the age of self-driving vehicles.

The potential widespread private use of autonomous vehicles raises several questions. Would minors be allowed to ride in self-driving vehicles without parental supervision? Who would be liable for collisions between self-driving cars and human-driven vehicles or pedestrians? Could self-driving vehicles eliminate entire career fields like truck driving? The answers to these questions are unknown but have the potential to profoundly change the way our society and economy operate.

Tensor has not yet announced how much private purchase of Robocars would cost or what type of restrictions might apply. Given the requirements for drivers to have insurance, another question is whether insurance companies will cover autonomous vehicles.

How it Affects You

The potential benefits of widespread self-driving vehicle use are many. In aging societies, elderly individuals who are unable to operate traditional cars due to poor eyesight or other medical problems, autonomous vehicles could bring in a new era of personal mobility. Self-driving cars could transport people who have consumed alcohol or drugs, potentially eliminating driving under the influence. But the safety performance of self-driving cars has yet to be proven, and until reliable safety has been demonstrated, sales of autonomous vehicles are unlikely to take off.