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A first public test of robotaxis by Tesla in Austin, Texas led to multiple traffic problems and driving issues, videos from company-selected riders showed over the first few days. Chief Executive Elon Musk has tied Tesla’s financial future to self-driving technology, and with Tesla sales down, the stakes are high. He said Tesla would roll out the service to other U.S. cities later this year and predicted “millions of Teslas” operating “fully autonomously” by the second half of next year. The Tesla fans invited to the trial were strongly supportive and posted videos of hours of trouble-free driving, but issues drew questions from federal road safety regulators and auto safety experts. Issues included Tesla robotaxis entering the wrong lane, dropping passengers off in the middle of multiple-lane roads or at intersections, sudden braking, speeding and driving over a curb. In one instance, a robotaxi drove into a lane meant for oncoming traffic for about 6 seconds. It had pulled into an intersection in its left-turn lane with its turn blinker on. Then the steering wheel wobbled momentarily, and instead of turning it proceeded straight into the lane meant for oncoming traffic, prompting a honk from a car behind it. In another incident, the car suddenly braked with no obstruction apparent in the video. The passenger jerked forward and their belongings were thrown to the floor. In a third video, taken from another vehicle, a robotaxi abruptly stopped twice in the middle of the road while passing police vehicles with flashing lights. Tesla is conducting the test with human safety monitors in the front passenger seat. A fourth video showed the safety monitor hitting a button to stop the robotaxi when a delivery truck in front of it started backing up. “This is awfully early to have a bunch of videos of erratic and poor driving,” said Philip Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon University computer-engineering professor and autonomous-technology expert. “I was not expecting as many videos of problematic driving on the very first day,” he said. Tesla is testing about 10 to 20 robotaxis, which are standard Model Ys with advanced software, and has been giving rides since Sunday afternoon. Reuters was able to independently verify the locations of at least 11 videos showing issues. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. A City of Austin spokesperson said officials are aware of the Tesla issues documented on social media and that “when a potential legal or safety concern is brought to our attention, we promptly share it with the company.” The spokesperson added that the police department is “actively collaborating with Tesla” to ensure officers can safely interact with the robotaxis. ‘Caught on camera’ The incidents caught on camera did not involve accidents, and one expert said some reflected a decision to focus on safety. “So far so good. It handled the situations very well and likely better than even good drivers,” Alain Kornhauser, Princeton University professor of operations research and financial engineering, said by email. He added that it would be more dangerous to drive at less than the speed of prevailing traffic, for instance. Tesla’s experiment is unusually public. Other companies faced similar issues: Alphabet’s Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise had their own share of traffic mishaps after showing up on Austin streets. City officials logged dozens of instances over the past two years where residents and authorities reported that robotaxis blocked traffic by stopping in the middle of roads, failed to respond to police directions and could not deal with emergency vehicles and road closures. A serious accident involving a pedestrian in 2023 led Cruise to shut down last year. Waymo is the only robotaxi service in the U.S. to ferry paying customers without a human backup driver or in-car safety monitor. It started offering rides to the general public through Uber in Austin earlier this year. Musk for years has failed to deliver on promises that self-driving Teslas are just around the corner. Tesla rolled out the service for a flat fee of $4.20 to a limited number of handpicked riders. The service is not available to the broader public and the robotaxis operate in a limited area, and avoid difficult intersections and bad weather. Riders were rarely bothered much by driving issues. Farzad Mesbahi, a former Tesla program manager, and his co-passenger hit the “drop off early” option during a ride. The vehicle stopped in an intersection with a stoplight, his video showed. They exit quickly and walk to the sidewalk. “The car should have known to not stop there,” Mesbahi is heard saying after the ride. “Opportunities for improvement,” the co-passenger says. That is an example “most companies would not be comfortable with,” said Kara Kockelman, a professor of transportation engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, adding that she was surprised by the traffic mistakes. “Dropping off people in the middle of a six-lane road or edge of a busy intersection when the traffic is going in the opposite direction is pretty dangerous. They definitely did not want to do this or be caught on camera,” she said. Abhirup Roy, Rachael Levy, and Chris Kirkham, Reuters Additional reporting by Inaki Malvido, Fernando Robles, and Richa Singh.
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E-Commerce
When it comes to AI agents, the makers of QuickBooks are hoping that youre into it. Intuitthe fintech platform that owns TurboTax, Credit Karma, Mailchimp, and QuickBooksannounced that it has implemented a new set of AI agents into its products. The company showcased how the AI agents work within QuickBooks at an event on June 24, and Fast Company was able to see a demonstration of how the agents can help business owners and entrepreneurs use them to speed up their bookkeeping and accounting processes. QuickBooks will incorporate a Payments Agent, an Accounting Agent, a Customer Agent, and a Finance Agent, all of which are designed to become intimately familiar with a businesss specific customer base and financial track record, offer up insights, and make additional analyses. And though its just now being rolled out, the new AI capabilities have been in the works for a long time. This is five or six years in the making, Sasan Goodarzi, Intuits CEO, tells Fast Company. Weve made huge investments in the past five years, he says, and the company has taken its time because when it comes to bookkeeping and accounting, accuracy matters. [Image: Intuit] In other words, Goodarzi says that while an AI tool like ChatGPT might spit out wrong or incorrect information, a customer relying on QuickBooks to crunch their numbers needs to be absolutely sure and trust in Intuits accuracyotherwise, they could find themselves with serious issues. As such, Intuit wanted to make sure everything was above board before launching to its full customer base. If it screws up, its a big problem, he says. Additionally, Goodarzi says that business owners are relying on a huge number of apps and platforms to run their companies, an issue that Intuit is trying to simplify. What Im hearing from customers all the time is that theyre over-digitized, there are too many apps. Theyre not getting the benefit from their time and money, he says. This is about creating a one-stop shop, a refreshed way to discover all of the capabilities within QuickBooks, he says, noting that many of Intuits customers are unaware of how many tools exist within the QuickBooks ecosystem. And its the discovery and engagement with those tools that Goodarzi says has been the area of the most positive feedback. But the primary question: Are the AI implementations actually producing value for users? Yes, Goodarzi says. He notes that during the testing phase, the new AI capabilities have led to significant time and money savings for users, though that can be difficult to quantify, and expects that the new features will both resonate with QuickBooks wider user base when they officially launch on July 1, and help the companys bottom line. I was talking about AI changing the world six years ago, and people were laughing at me, he says. Now, were actually seeing natural adoption, driving incredible value.
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Anna Wintour, an icon in the fashion industry who has been at the helm of Vogue for nearly four decades, will be stepping down as editor-in-chief, according to a number of publications including WWD and Business of Fashion. Wintour told staffers on Thursday the company is seeking a new head of editorial content at American Vogue, per USA Today. She will remain as Condé Nast’s chief content officer and as Vogue’s global editorial director. She is best known for her impeccable sense of fashionimmortalized by her famous bob hairstyle, large sunglasses, and Georgian Collet necklacesas well as for helming the Met Gala, considered one of fashion’s most exclusive social events. As a businesswoman, she has been criticized and praised for her direct, take-no-prisoners “girl boss” management style, which was immortalized in the 2006 movie The Devil Wears Prada, in which her character was played by Meryl Streep. Wintourwho is British, but become a U.S. citizen in 1972 after marrying American child psychologist David Shafferhas presided over Vogue since 1988, making it the “fashion bible” that it is today. As chief content officer, Wintour oversees a number of Condé Nast brands, including: Wired, Vanity Fair, GQ, AD, Condé Nast Traveler, Glamour, Bon Appetit, Tatler, World of Interiors, Allure, and others, except The New Yorker, which editor David Remnick runs.
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