When Tesla’s robotaxis began quietly ferrying passengers across Austin on 22 June, the reactions were swift and curious. Some marvelled at the absence of a steering wheel, others at the USD 4.20 flat fare, but for many Australians watching from afar, the question wasn’t how it worked, it was how soon it might come here.
Public sentiment in Australia remains cool. A recent survey by Savvy found that fewer than 10 percent of Australians fully trust driverless cars. Most are cautiously curious, but scepticism lingers, especially among older drivers. Younger urbanites show more enthusiasm, yet even they expect guarantees before giving up the wheel. Governments are preparing the ground, laws are being drafted, and pilot schemes have been quietly ticking along in places like Darwin and Sydney. Still, no comparable robotaxi has yet taken a paying passenger on Australian roads. The technology is advancing, but national sentiment, as ever, prefers to keep both hands on the wheel.
According to reports on X, the novelty of no driver, no tipping and no awkward conversations made the experience oddly pleasant. Others suggested the app could use features like flexible pickup pins or better mid-route editing. But those quibbles aside, it worked.
Tesla’s reliance on a camera-only system, rather than the lidar-based sensor arrays of its competitors, has raised eyebrows among engineers and regulators. The logic is that vision systems, once perfected, will be cheaper and more scalable. Critics argue the system remains brittle. Musk, however, has hinted that software updates could soon convert a global fleet of Teslas into driverless revenue machines. His forecasts are grand. Reality remains more grounded.
Tesla is not alone. Waymo, Google’s offshoot, is already offering fully driverless services in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles, with plans for Atlanta and Miami. It runs over 250,000 rides each week and maintains a much larger fleet, backed by lidar, radar and detailed maps. Its vehicles, often Jaguars, have been on the road longer and more quietly than Tesla’s, with fewer mishaps but more caution. According to Waymo, its cars have driven millions of miles without a human at the controls. Feedback has been muted but generally favourable.
In China, Baidu’s Apollo Go is moving even faster. Over a thousand cars operate across fifteen cities. In Wuhan, a 10-kilometre robotaxi ride can cost less than $2. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, the service clocked 1.4 million rides. The scale is hard to ignore. Local governments, eager to appear technologically advanced, have enabled fast-track approvals. In Beijing and Wuhan, parts of the city are now zoned for fully driverless vehicles with no safety driver required.
China’s competitive structure, where companies like Pony.ai and Baidu collaborate with state entities, has led to rapid uptake. Some cities even offer subsidies or infrastructure support to ease rollouts. The downside is predictability. Chinese robotaxis operate mainly in tech parks, cleanly marked city grids or specific corridors designed for low-speed, low-risk navigation. Still, the tech is real, the cars are driving and public trust is gradually building.
Australia, by comparison, is in the waiting lounge. A national automated vehicle safety law is under development but not yet passed. Trials have taken place in Adelaide, Darwin, Sydney and regional Queensland. These have ranged from slow shuttle buses to self-driving Teslas under supervision. A consultation paper in April highlighted gaps in national policy, insurance liabilities and public understanding. The country ranked fifteenth in a 2020 global readiness index. It has not improved markedly since.
The roadblock is legal and infrastructural. Australia’s roads are inconsistently marked. Its 5G coverage drops off rapidly outside urban centres. Remote control of vehicles, vital in emergencies, may not be reliable everywhere. Then there is the matter of kangaroos, which famously confused early detection systems with their unpredictable hops. Engineers have since improved animal recognition, but the point stands. Australian roads pose unique challenges.
Regulatory updates are coming. A national law recognising automated driving systems as legal drivers is expected by 2026. That would pave the way for commercial rollouts in cities like Melbourne or Sydney. Officials are studying American and Chinese models to avoid pitfalls, particularly around safety, liability and data governance. State governments are already approving low-speed shuttle trials on fixed routes. But robotaxis, as imagined in Austin or Wuhan, remain a few years off.
The most likely path is a cautious one. Tesla may offer driverless features in private cars via software updates. Waymo could partner with a local ride-share company. Baidu might even eye pilot zones in places like Parramatta or the Gold Coast. But none of these will arrive before regulation, insurance and data-sharing frameworks are clarified.
So when will Australians be able to book a robotaxi from their phone and ride alone through the city? Probably not before 2027, and even then only in limited zones. More likely is a gradual rollout through tightly geofenced areas, followed by cautious expansion as trust builds and laws catch up. Widespread adoption, particularly outside capital cities, may not arrive until the early 2030s.
For now, Australians will need to rely on their own two hands or, failing that, a rideshare driver. But the race is underway, and the silent Teslas of Austin are already on the move. How long Australia chooses to wait at the kerb is still up for debate.
Support independent community journalism. Support The Indian Sun.
Follow The Indian Sun on X | Instagram | Facebook
🚗@Tesla's robotaxis debut in #Austin, but #Australia lags with <10% public trust in #driverlesscars. 🇨🇳#China leads with @BaiduApollo's #ApolloGo (1.4M rides Q1'25). 🇦🇺AU rollout unlikely before 2027 due to regulation & infra gaps. #TheIndianSun
🔗 https://t.co/OEgNa0N5Qy pic.twitter.com/q7IIneoqOq
— The Indian Sun (@The_Indian_Sun) June 23, 2025
Donate To The Indian Sun
Dear Reader,The Indian Sun is an independent organisation committed to community journalism. We have, through the years, been able to reach a wide audience especially with the growth of social media, where we also have a strong presence. With platforms such as YouTube videos, we have been able to engage in different forms of storytelling. However, the past few years, like many media organisations around the world, it has not been an easy path. We have a greater challenge. We believe community journalism is very important for a multicultural country like Australia. We’re not able to do everything, but we aim for some of the most interesting stories and journalism of quality. We call upon readers like you to support us and make any contribution. Do make a DONATION NOW so we can continue with the volume and quality journalism that we are able to practice.
Thank you for your support.
Best wishes,
Team The Indian Sun
