Autonomous testing of Tesla vehicles has begun in the 3.5-mile tunnel beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center. Testing started before Tesla's planned robotaxi launch scheduled for late 2024. No passengers have been in the vehicles and a Boring Company safety operator has been seated in the driver position. Tests use consumer Full Self-Driving (FSD) software installed in personal Tesla vehicles. Safety drivers have periodically intervened to take control, and no scrapes or accidents have occurred. Initial approvals exist for a 68-mile underground taxi system, but permits to dig within city limits remain pending.
"We've started to test," Steve Hill, CEO of city marketing organization the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), told Fortune in an interview in his office earlier this month. Hill specified that the autonomous testing had begun prior to Tesla's robotaxi launch in June -at the end of 2024-and that no passengers have been in vehicles during the testing.
Thus far, all of the initial testing has been done with the standard Full Self-Driving (FSD) software that consumers can get in their personal Tesla vehicles, and with a Boring Company safety operator in the driver's seat, according to Hill, who awarded the Boring Company its first transportation contract and who has overseen all of Boring's initial construction and tunneling in the broader County thus far.
The Boring Company and Elon Musk have repeatedly suggested that the Teslas driving below Las Vegas will eventually drive themselves, but until now, there has been no firm timeline for when that process would formally begin. Boring Company, which received initial approvals to construct a 68-mile underground taxi system below Las Vegas, still has not received the necessary permits to dig within city limits, a Las Vegas spokesman confirmed (the Las Vegas Convention Center tunnel is technically in Clark County).
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