Elon Musk’s heterodox robotaxi philosophy gets put to the test

Nearly two years after Elon Musk first unveiled the gold-tinted, gull-wing door sporting, steering wheel-free two-seaters as the future of Tesla’s autonomy efforts, the company is finally putting them into operation as part of its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas. Public rides are here, and as Musk fans will assert, the era of Tesla’s robotaxi dominance will begin. Or will it? Musk has bet his company — and his trillion-dollar pay package — on a stripped down, barebones autonomous driving system that eschews multiple sensors used by all of his rivals in favor of a camera-only approach. The Cybercab, as a purpose-built autonomous vehicle without traditional controls, embodies this bet. Musk believes he can forge his own path to robotaxi success — and the Cybercab is his gilded vehicle of choice. We’ll soon know if he’s in for a crash. The Cybercab will be using a modified version of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD). For the company’s millions of vehicle owners, FSD remains a Level 2 driver assist feature…