Tesla has revealed a glimpse of its forthcoming self-driving ride-hailing app, previously dubbed ‘Tesla Network’, which the electric automaker is positioning as a direct competitor to Uber.
For years, Tesla has hinted at the development of a ride-hailing application to challenge the likes of Uber and now Waymo. While earlier discussions suggested the app might be launched without self-driving capabilities, it is now evident that Tesla is awaiting this crucial advancement.
Despite not yet achieving fully autonomous driving, a prerequisite for an autonomous ride-hailing app, recent advancements have spurred Tesla to commence work on the application.
With the announcement of its Q1 2024 financial results, Tesla has unveiled a sneak peek of its ride-hailing app through a series of screenshots:
The screenshots reveal features reminiscent of Uber, with additional functionalities tailored for self-driving vehicles, such as the ability to ‘summon’ the vehicle and adjust temperature and music directly from the app.
Tesla briefly referenced its ride-hailing app in its Q1 earnings report:
“We have been investing in the hardware and software ecosystems necessary to achieve vehicle autonomy and a ride-hailing service.”
The company further stated:
“We are currently developing ride-hailing functionality for future release. We believe the Tesla software experience is best-in-class across all our products, and plan to seamlessly integrate ride-hailing into the Tesla App.”
This indicates that the ride-hailing service will not be offered through a standalone app but will instead be integrated directly into the existing and widely used Tesla app.
Tesla did not provide a timeline for the launch of its ride-hailing service, which hinges on the achievement of unsupervised self-driving—a milestone that remains unattained, despite Tesla’s claims of being closer than ever with the introduction of its FSD v12 software.
