Tech mogul Elon Musk is at it again, this time unleashing his autonomous robot taxis onto the unsuspecting streets of Austin, Texas. Despite years of promises and delays, Tesla claims they’re finally ready to drop their driverless vehicles into urban chaos on June 12.

The Wild West of Autonomous Driving

With Texas’ famously lax regulations, Musk is seizing the opportunity to test these self-driving marvels without much governmental interference. The company reports they’ve been testing Model Y vehicles “without a human in the driver’s seat” for several days, which sounds absolutely terrifying and exhilarating in equal measure.

Safety? We Don’t Know Her

Here’s the kicker: local Austin officials reportedly haven’t received comprehensive safety information about these robo-vehicles. Emergency responders are essentially flying blind, with no clear protocol for handling potential autonomous vehicle incidents. Musk’s response? Typical tech bro confidence mixed with a dash of “we’ll figure it out”.

The Teleoperation Twist

While Tesla claims these are fully autonomous vehicles, reports suggest they’ll actually use “heavy teleoperation” - meaning a human operator might be remotely controlling the car. So much for full autonomy, right? The standard testing protocol usually requires months of incident-free driving, but Musk seems intent on fast-tracking this technological experiment.

Welcome to the future, Austin - buckle up (or don’t, since there might not be a driver)!