US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opens inquiry into Tesla's newly certified driverless vehicles in Austin

Elon Musk's wheel-free, pedal-free Cybercabs hit the streets of Austin, Texas this week. These vehicle offerings were intended to provide driverless rides within limited city areas. Within 24 hours of the launch, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a formal inquiry into how Tesla certified the vehicles as street legal in the first place. Tesla's stock dropped more than 5 percent on the news. A day earlier, London received its first robotaxi service, a joint venture between Uber and UK startup Wayve that still keeps a human safety supervisor on board. Uber announced it would axe roughly 3,300 jobs, or about 10 percent of its workforce, to help fund its robotaxi pivot. Critics point to China's experience for context. The country has embraced driverless taxis at scale for years. More than 100 Baidu robotaxis froze simultaneously on Wuhan's streets in March, prompting a nationwide permit freeze that was only lifted in June. A peer-reviewed study found that robotaxis cut local taxi drivers' income in Wuhan by almost 11 percent.