Zoox co-founder Jesse Levinson on Wednesday dismissed the possibility of Tesla Inc TSLA deploying autonomous vehicles without safety drivers in California next year, alleging that the EV giant lacks a technology that works.

What Happened: Tesla is faced with a lot of regulatory hurdles that they haven’t even started trying to climb yet, Levinson said at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 event in San Francisco. But the fundamental problem, he said, is that Tesla doesn’t have a “technology that worked.”

“By works, I want to differentiate between a driver assistance system that drives most the time except when it doesn’t and then you have to take over versus a system that’s so reliable and robust that you don’t need a person in it,” Levinson said.

Levinson said that he drives a Tesla and uses its full self-driving (FSD) driver assistance system “every couple of weeks.” While the system is “impressive,” it is also a bit “stressful”, he said.

“…usually it does the right thing and then it sort of lulls you into this false sense of complacency and then it does the wrong thing. You’re like “oh my god.” They are about 100 times less safe than a human,” Levinson said while also pinning it down to the company’s use of just cameras and AI to enable self-driving.

“…you really do need significantly more hardware than Tesla is putting in the vehicles to build a robotaxi that’s not just as safe but especially safer than a human,” he opined while adding that there is a need for sensor data despite advancements in AI to protect against camera malfunctions and ensure fully safe rides.

Musk Responds: Tesla CEO Elon Musk, however, is optimistic that FSD technology can ensure full vehicle autonomy with future versions of the software.

Musk hit back at Levinson on Wednesday for his comments on the company’s capability to deploy autonomous vehicles.

“If he hadn’t gotten bailed out by Amazon, his company would be dead already,” Musk wrote on social media platform X, referring to Amazon.com‘s AMZN acquisition of the robotaxi company in 2020 for over $1.2 billion.

Why It Matters: During Tesla’s third-quarter earnings call earlier this month, Musk said that the company expects to start a ride-hail service in Texas and California starting next year, subject to regulatory approval.

However, the vehicles might not all operate as driverless robotaxis but with a driver as some states demand it until the company touches certain milestones in terms of miles and hours driven, the company then said.

However, Musk expressed confidence about the company operating driverless paid rides sometime next year.

Tesla also unveiled a no-pedal, no-steering wheel dedicated robotaxi product earlier this month called the Cybercab. Cybercab, Musk then said, will enter production ‘before 2027′ and will be priced below $30,000. Until then, Tesla’s ride-hail fleet will be composed of the company’s Model 3 and Model Y.

Zoox, meanwhile, will launch its custom-built robotaxi with no pedals or steering wheel in San Francisco and Las Vegas in the coming weeks, Levinson said on Wednesday. The company will start taking members of the public for rides in the vehicle starting next year, he added.

Image via Shutterstock

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