Episode 516: Happy Tesla Robotaxi Launch!
Ride the Lightning: Tesla Motors Unofficial Podcast
Ryan McCaffrey
4.8 • 988 Ratings
🗓️ 22 June 2025
⏱️ 95 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tesla’s robotaxi service officially launches in Austin, marking a major milestone in the company’s decade-long quest to achieve autonomous driving. Plus: Tesla might be making another new Model Y variant, we may have just gotten a sneak peek at Tesla’s AI5 FSD Computer, and more!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On this week's episode of Ride the Lightning, the Tesla and EV podcast, |
| 0:04.0 | Tesla's Robotaxi service officially launches in Austin, |
| 0:08.0 | marking a major milestone in the company's decade-long quest |
| 0:12.0 | to achieve autonomous driving. |
| 0:15.0 | Plus, Tesla might be making another new Model Y variant. |
| 0:19.0 | We may have just gotten a sneak peek |
| 0:21.2 | at Tesla's AI-5 FSD computer and more. |
| 0:24.7 | ... What's happening friends, Ryan McCaffrey joining you here for episode 516 of Ride the Lightning, your weekly Tesla and EV podcast. |
| 0:53.4 | I've got one dog, it's Daisy the Boxer to my left. |
| 0:56.6 | The Labradors are out in the living room going crazy somewhere. |
| 1:00.4 | Couldn't have them in here. |
| 1:02.0 | It's going crazy on the podcast this week. |
| 1:04.3 | There is a lot to cover, which seems to be the case most weeks, |
| 1:08.2 | but this is an especially momentous occasion for Tesla, |
| 1:12.2 | because, as I said in the title of this episode, happy Robotaxi launch. |
| 1:17.5 | In fact, today, as this episode publishes, not as I'm recording it here on Friday, |
| 1:22.3 | but on Sunday, as it's going out to the world, it's happy Robotaxy day. |
| 1:27.5 | So the era of driverless Teslas that the company has been working towards |
| 1:33.5 | since they started developing their own in-house hardware and software back in 2016, |
| 1:40.3 | after their very public divorce with Mobilai, the day has arrived, or at least phase one of the day, has arrived as of the publication of this episode. |
| 1:52.4 | I'm pretty sure. |
| 1:54.4 | Now, I say that because the Robotaxie launch in Austin is scheduled to start on the day this episode goes live, |
... |
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