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Liam Denning, Columnist

Robotaxis Will Test Tesla in a Trillion Ways

The automaker’s lofty valuation rests on visions of autonomous vehicles everywhere. June’s Austin launch starts the clock.

A big moment.

Photographer: Christian Marquardt - Pool/Getty Images

Tesla Inc. will launch its long-promised robotaxi service in Austin next month because it has to. The countdown began just over a year ago when news broke that the company had abandoned its cheap electric vehicle project and Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk responded by announcing a robotaxi unveiling, scheduled for August. Delayed to October, that event was a flop, with the vehicles confined to a studio lot and guests heckling Musk on when the real robotaxis would appear. With Tesla’s core EV business having slumped since then, it is Musk’s repeated promises of a June rollout that have pushed the stock back up to a ridiculously high multiple and trillion-dollar valuation.

Missing another deadline is not an option. But far from Musk’s grand vision of self-driving Teslas running around everywhere, what we will likely get in Austin is a minimum viable robotaxi. For Tesla diehards, it will nonetheless be enough to bolster their faith — even as it reveals the risks to their favorite company’s entire autonomy project.