Tesla confirms that Robotaxi will be remotely operated by humans in specific situations: as a "last resort"

IT Home, April 1: Tesla has acknowledged that its Robotaxi is not completely operated independently by the system, and that in certain situations it will still be taken over by remote human operators.

On March 31 local time, Wired magazine reported that Tesla confirmed in a letter to U.S. Senator Ed Markey that when the automated driving system cannot handle complex situations, remote operators can directly take over vehicle control. This approach differs from the industry’s general pattern, because most companies only allow humans to provide decision support and do not actually drive the vehicles.

Tesla’s Public Policy and Business Development Director, Karen Stickley, said that this kind of remote takeover is a “last-resort option in extremely rare circumstances,” and will only be enabled after all other intervention methods have failed. In practical operation, when the vehicle speed drops to below about 3 km/h, remote operators can take over, and—when permitted by the system—raise the speed to about 16 km/h.

By contrast, companies like Waymo impose stricter limits on human intervention. Waymo’s “fleet response” mechanism only allows staff to provide environmental information and recommendations to help the system make judgments, but it does not directly control the vehicle. The industry generally avoids remote driving because network latency and limited vehicle sensor field of view pose challenges to the safety of remote operation.

Tesla has long been more aggressive on its automated driving technology roadmap. Unlike competitors that rely on radar and multi-sensor fusion, Tesla has insisted on using cameras alone as the core perception method for its FSD system. At the same time, security concerns surrounding FSD have also sparked controversy multiple times, and in 2025 it became the subject of an investigation by U.S. regulators.

According to IT Home, Tesla launched its Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas in June 2025, initially with safety drivers as a safeguard. However, the related testing is also being gradually advanced toward a stage without safety drivers, which also explains why Tesla needs to introduce remote takeover as a supplementary mechanism.