Tesla Fort Worth Robotaxi Field Report

Key Tesla Robotaxi Fort Worth Field Report Findings

Tesla Robotaxi Fort Worth Field Report

Special Field Correspondent Spencer rode in a Tesla Robotaxi in Fort Worth on launch morning. This Field Report covers launch morning, the transportation gap in Fort Worth, the ride, the drop off, remote support and what it will take for Tesla to scale across DFW metroplex.

Launch Morning

Tesla announced that service was turning on in Fort Worth, and Spencer ready. At 6:00am, Spencer opened the app and it still said we were outside operating hours. However on the next try a car was ordered and it arrived in 22 minutes.

Why Fort Worth

Fort Worth is known as Cowtown. It was a major stop on the cattle drives, where cattle were brought into the city and then hauled off by rail to the rest of the country. Today it is one of the larger cities in the United States without a major metro system. There is a train that runs from downtown to the airport, and there is a city bus network, but the bus network is underutilized and the timetables are not usable unless you are desperate. That is a transportation gap, and Robotaxi is primed to fill it in Fort Worth and the greater DFW area.

The Ride

Robotaxi pulled in right where Spencer was standing. The vehicle was spotless and appeared to be one of the newer vehicles in the fleet, with a telematics box in the back. It was running the latest UI with Grok in the car and the new quiet mode, which clears the distracting content off the screen. On the road, Robotaxi handled a multilane roundabout with flawless execution. Ride comfort and smoothness are the best we have experienced in an autonomous vehicle to date, and we have ridden in many across the world.

Cybercab Sighting

During the ride Spencer spotted a Cybercab with no front license plate. It is likely one of the validation units. Validation Cybercabs have been testing throughout Fort Worth for weeks.

The Drop Off

This is where the ride got interesting. The normal street to the Stockyards, the historic street with the Stockyards arch, is closed for construction. Robotaxi routed us to a gated driveway, and the gate was closed. The vehicle smartly decided not to approach the gate. It thought about a U-turn, decided against it and rerouted. Then it came right back to the same closed gate. After the third loop, Spencer called remote support.

Remote Support

Support answered quickly. We explained the gate closure, and the agent moved the drop off pin closer to the gate, by a barbecue restaurant. Robotaxi reached the new pin and we arrived. One phone call solved the problem.

Outlook

Apart from the drop off, the driving was phenomenal. The drop off is an operations and mapping issue, not a driving issue, and it is exactly the type of launch day edge case that gets cleaned up as the fleet logs miles in the city. With no major metro system and validation Cybercabs already testing in the city, Tesla is clearly positioned to scale Robotaxi across the greater DFW area.