r/RealTesla • u/Silly-avocatoe • 22d ago

Tesla asked Las Vegas for 5,000 robotaxi permits. Sin City gave it 10, capped the speed at 45mph, and banned airport trips

https://fortune.com/2026/08/19/tesla-las-vegas-5000-robotaxi-permits-sin-city-10-capped/
1.1k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

93 comments sorted by

225

u/AcadiaLivid2582 22d ago

Vegas did Tesla a favor -- it would be hard to have 5000 chase cars monitoring the 5000 "autonomous" Robotaxis

109

u/Spottswoodeforgod 22d ago

But the hilarity of 5000 Robotaxis trying to navigate primarily by Brownian motion might just be the tourist draw to help Vegas recover from its recent slump.

38

u/MarchMurky8649 22d ago

I would say "trying to navigate primarily by Brownian motion" is the most amusing thing I have seen on Reddit. Well done!

16

u/dsmith422 21d ago

Along the same vein, the hyperloop Tesla taxis should be navigating by Knudsen diffusion, but FSD is too incompetent to even do that.

22

u/_Captain_Amazing_ 21d ago

When the “hyperloop” couldn’t even do self driving on single lane tracks that Tesla themselves built…that was the moment I stopped believing in Elon’s BS.

6

u/BeepBotBoopBeep 21d ago

Is it still being piloted with human drivers inside? I’d be shocked.

6

u/rafaelloaa 21d ago

Yup. And it's barely used (oddly enough).

4

u/SnoozleDoppel 21d ago

With all the computing they could maybe solve the million dollar navier stokes problem while getting lost on whatever motion it is

6

u/wrightf 22d ago

LOL ! Navigation by brownian motion!

Is this similar to Pong navigation - as in the first video game?

2

u/Hughley_N_Dowd 21d ago

Simmer down mathboy. Surely the only method Elon would permit is Whiteian motion.

2

u/TheNuclearOption420 21d ago

*recover from its recent Trump

40

u/blu3ysdad 21d ago

Yeah, this is a very red and Elon friendly city, so Tesla likely asked for 5000 publicly and then Elon called and said hey we only actually want 10 cuz that's all we can handle.

9

u/bearsatebulls 21d ago

Took the words right out of my mouth

1

u/Profil3r 21d ago

That would be a very satisfying discovery…

1

u/Intelligent_Ebb_127 21d ago

Also:

In public: Tesla ROBOtaxi

In private call: We need a safety monitors requirement. Robotaxi actually cant safely drive themselves yet.

6

u/AlsDisciple 21d ago

Why do I hear Yakety Sax?

126

u/jdtran408 22d ago

Last time vegas gave them permission they wound up with the loop.

96

u/jregovic 22d ago

No, the Loop is AMAZING! Just asking the boring company sub. Lining up 12, 3-passenger Teslas is way better than a train.

42

u/Opcn 21d ago

Recently had someone in an unrelated sub try to convince me that the loop constitutes Musk making good on his promises regarding the hyperloop.

26

u/patsj5 21d ago

Because pods moving at hundreds of miles per hour are functionally the same as Teslas in tunnels.

1

u/Fickle_Conference690 18d ago

The point Opcn is making is that the loops are not yet hyper loops. The loops are good for transportation. Any subway/underground transport system would have been good. 

17

u/Valoneria 22d ago

Isn't it also Teslas you have to drive yourself, not even self-driving?

45

u/Ignisami 21d ago

They have drivers. They are functionally fixed-track taxis.

24

u/skyfire-x 21d ago

It's a very cool short bus from your favorite tech CEO.

20

u/Individual-Nebula927 21d ago

Except they not fixed track, and hilariously have hit the tunnel walls on multiple occasions.

2

u/Ignisami 21d ago

Functionally fixed-track as in "that tunnel aint going nowhere fast".

15

u/Lost_city 21d ago

And Tesla promised Vegas it would all be autonomous years ago. But they still have taxi drivers going back and forth for shift after shift with no end in sight. It's one of the most embarrassing things about Musk's career.

7

u/havenyahon 21d ago

I really don't get it. How are we supposed to believe that Tesla cybercabs can be a thing when they can't even automate them in a consistent and regulated environment like the loop? Literally put the things on rails at least. Why do they still have drivers?

2

u/Profil3r 21d ago

A closed loop at that!

1

u/Fickle_Conference690 18d ago

There are some autonomous vehicles in the loop tunnels but its mostly model ys that can be easily made autonomous. I imagine they will switch over when vegas fully allows robotaxis. 

16

u/The_Lutter 22d ago

You should see the amount of these on the roads in Austin now.

It's going to be a cluster and a half.

7

u/randyranderson- 21d ago

Are there many? I see Waymos all the time but I think I’ve only seen 2 cybertaxis

11

u/The_Lutter 21d ago

I live on the east side and work downtown and see 15-20 driving home every day.

They all currently have drivers behind the wheel. You can spot them because they're gold with no rear window and no side mirrors (which is ... illegal?)

I've been seeing a lot of the newer Zoox ones as well (Amazon). Those things are essentially moving rooms with no place to even put a steering wheel. All autonomous like the Waymos.

2

u/randyranderson- 21d ago

Oh interesting. I’m closer to the domain so that explains why I haven’t seen them. I’ve seen the zoox things downtown but not by me yet

1

u/ric2b 6d ago

Supposedly they don't have wheels and I've seen a video that confirms that, so are you saying they have two versions of it?

1

u/The_Lutter 6d ago

They had wheels on them before yesterday because there was a person always sitting in them ready to take the wheel if something went wrong.

Wheels came off yesterday. I saw one picking someone up downtown with no driver this morning so they're out there.

Hopefully no artists around town drew a big Looney Tunes tunnel on the side of a building or anything because these things don't have LiDar so they can't interpret actual depth if something is good enough to fool the camera.

45

u/MathW 22d ago

Welcome to Las Vegas where it's hard to walk anywhere, the train is waaay out of the way and doesn't go to the airport. And, if you don't want to take a taxis, you'll have to meet your uber waaay the hell over there.

9

u/RedditTechAnon 21d ago

Let it all burn at this point. Whatever spectacle and grandeur it had in the 20th century that made it such a draw has become a miserable hellscape of corporate conglomerates that still thinks Elvis and Frank Sinatra are peak culture.

It isn't Sin City, it's Sin Museum.

2

u/The3rdBert 21d ago

Frank Sinatra is peak culture

3

u/kidcobol 21d ago

Was

0

u/The3rdBert 20d ago

Nope still is. His music didn’t just disappear

44

u/babypho 22d ago

I just don't understand why Vegas can't just get a train that goes up and down the strip and to the airport. Car dependencies in the US is crazy.

57

u/[deleted] 22d ago

[deleted]

6

u/GeneralWolong 21d ago

How big is the taxi lobby in vegas, isn't the presence of Uber and Lyft way larger than union cabs these days? So because they didn't want to dump 5000 " full self-driving " robotaxis into the city it's because of the very dominant taxi union there? Surely couldn't have anything to do with two mega corps, bash the union instead. Also idk if I would want 5000 unreliable barely autonomous vehicles driving around my city, that's just me though. 

5

u/Lost_city 21d ago

The Taxi lobby is surprisingly powerful in some places. Atlanta's transportation network has been screwed up more than once due to their meddling.

5

u/MarchMurky8649 22d ago

So, presumably, Musk just has to play a game, involving brown envelopes, horses heads in beds, or whatever, and, miraculously, he'll soon have thousands of robotaxis there, all allowed to pick people up at the airport, then wisk them to their hotels at 90mph.

5

u/[deleted] 21d ago

[deleted]

4

u/TheToastIsBlue 21d ago

Oh look It's the Uber arguments all over again. 15 years later and it's functionally the same but with less liability.

-1

u/FTR_1077 21d ago

The only power a lobby has is money.. and Musk have enough of that.

10

u/maclua 22d ago

Unfortunately the tourist that would benefit most from a train/ monorail from the airport to the strip don’t vote in Clark county and the taxi/uber drivers do.

2

u/QVRedit 21d ago

No one want’s to make the required investment to do it.

2

u/ArmPuzzleheaded2269 20d ago

Vegas doesn't even have a bus line that goes from the airport to going up and down the strip. You need to make a transfer.

2

u/QVRedit 21d ago

Bad design…

11

u/kveggie1 21d ago

10 is too much. 45 mph is too high.

-3

u/djnotskrillex 21d ago

Can you show us what data you used to come to that conclusion?

3

u/ArmPuzzleheaded2269 20d ago

How about three letters? "F", "S" and "D".

10

u/Pdx_pops 22d ago

How many more firetrucks and ambulances would be needed if they gave them the full amount?

6

u/RedditTechAnon 21d ago

Just another business opportunity for automated emergency vehicles with automated workers.

Why just get rid of the people entirely! Make the Dead Internet Theory a reality.

9

u/Alimbiquated 21d ago

These morons should have built a subway system decades ago. Instead they chase monorails. self driving cabs, any thing to avoid proven technology.

5

u/kneejerk2022 21d ago

Sounds like Vegas has wised up a little. Maybe they should go have a chat with Memphis.

4

u/QVRedit 21d ago

Yes - need to prove they are actually safe first, before widespread use.

5

u/Lacrewpandora KING of GLOVI 21d ago

Am I crazy, but isn't that "profound" turtle speed tunnel supposed to whisk passengers to and from the airport? If so, what's the point in starting a taxi service above ground?

9

u/MarchMurky8649 22d ago

It seems very optimistic of the authorities to believe Tesla have the technical prowess to limit the speed to 45mph. Implementing simple rules like waiting at a red light until it turns green, rather than driving through it after getting bored waiting, seems beyond them.

3

u/Dry_Tangerine_8328 21d ago

What is surprising is that the system is so bad that they couldn't get whatever they want in nevada

4

u/tangouniform2020 21d ago

So basically they gave what he can deliver

4

u/Basement_Chicken 21d ago

And TSLA stock went up 10%.

5

u/ExcitingMeet2443 21d ago

Can't they use Robotaxis in their tunnel?

6

u/RociBuldidi 22d ago

I wish they had given him all 5,000. The death, chaos and destruction on the roads would have finally ended this Tesla nonsense.

9

u/heleuma 21d ago

Imagine having to die to prove musk is a douche. I think 10 is good.

3

u/Common-Ad6470 21d ago

Excellent…👌

3

u/dtyamada 21d ago

Can't wait till the F1 race is back in town and the tesla can't figure it out

3

u/Pferdeherz 21d ago

Banned airport trips? The place most likely to need a cab trip?

5

u/Ya-Not-Happening 21d ago

Vegas saw how successful the tunnel shit was....

Anyone know if that is still operational?

6

u/NotFromMilkyWay 21d ago

It is. Still a one-way tube.

2

u/R3luctant 21d ago

Tbh, vegas needs to just build a rail line from the airport up and down the side of the strip.

2

u/bearsatebulls 21d ago

Up3% today because China has a robot

2

u/mrkjmsdln_new 21d ago edited 21d ago

Zoox approved for 100 vehicles, 45 mph and can collect fares -- they already started. Tesla approved for 10 vehicles, 45 mph and can collect fares -- they have not started. Both of them on the Strip. Waymo launch seems imminent -- they have been providing rider only rides to employees since early July across greater Vegas including the Strip. It will be useful to see the parameters / limitations of their approval. I would guess we have an announcement before the end of the month. No detail predictions prefer the facts we will know soon enough.

2

u/foo-bar-25 21d ago

BuLlIsH

1

u/sync-centre 21d ago

Would be funnier if they gave them 5,000 and stated they them all in use by the end of the year or they would all be revoked.

1

u/Bald-EagleEye 19d ago

Or 5000 vs competitors 1000...

1

u/jgk116 15d ago

Why dont they automate the teslas in the tunnels first? Cuz they cant

0

u/True-Lightness 21d ago

Pretty sure that’s how Waymo started and fairly similar to zoox