#Fauxbotaxi

took me all of an hour to find Tesla's (temporary) South Austin #fauxbotaxi depot

I'm just too good at this investigative stuff, is my problem

#fauxbotaxi might be the greatest thing ever. I'm in.

I think that Tesla #fauxbotaxi really liked my training input🖕

The city of Memphis was sold out to Elon's XAI, signing nondisclosures that prevented citizens from finding out the true scale and environmental impact of his data center plans. Don't let this happen to you!

Start monitoring and documenting Tesla's #fauxbotaxi operations in Austin today!

Hey Austin, this is why we need you out in the streets documenting Tesla's dangerous and irresponsible self-driving experiment!

If you see Teslas with manufacturers plates, take photo and video (or descriptions of behavior you see) and post them with the hashtag #fauxbotaxi. Public info is key!

Please (safely!) take pictures and videos of any new Tesla Model Ys with manufacturer license plates around Austin and post them with the #fauxbotaxi hashtag. Feel free to tag me directly as well.

Thanks for helping track this dangerous fleet and making data on it available to the public!

Tesla's Austin "robotaxis" present a specific public risk due to Tesla's dangerous camera-only approach and risky test protocols. In light of this I propose an #osint (open-source intelligence) campaign to monitor them on Bluesky, using the #fauxbotaxi hashtag.

If you're on the ground in Austin, keep an eye out for the Model Ys with roof racks like you see in the OP, but also keep an eye on the license plates. If you start seeing unmodified Model Ys with manufacturer plates, those might be the actual #fauxbotaxi. Don't only take pics of the roofrack cars!

There are a couple of possibilities here:

1) these are just validation rigs
2) the validation fleet is the #Fauxbotaxi fleet, and lidar is there for ground truth
3) Tesla is adding lidar to the stack, or using it for an AEB-type functionality, since it's doing a custom L4 fleet anyway

A refreshed "Juniper" Tesla Model Y in silver, with a black roof rack containing front- and side-facing Luminar "Iris" sensors

Two shots of a white "Juniper" Model Y with the same roof rack and lidar sensors, shot on the street in Austin with a Texas manufacturer plate visible

A black Model Y "Juniper" with the same roofrack-mounted Luminar lidar and Texas manufacturer plates, shot on the street in Austin

Here are some of the new Model Ys that have been seen around Austin lately, with manufacturer plates and roofracks sporting Luminar "Iris" lidar sensors.

Tesla has historically used similarly-equipped vehicles for validation work in California, so it's not clear if these are the #Fauxbotaxi fleet.

If you would like to hunt for footage of Tesla's #Fauxbotaxi fleet in Austin, I'm hearing that Model Ys with manufacturer plates have been seen around the Barton Hills/Zilker/South Lamar area.

If you see them elsewhere, or know where the depot is located, please post using the #Fauxbotaxi hashtag

If you are in Austin and you see a Model Y with nobody in the driver's seat, or running manufacturer license plates, please take video and post it using the #TeslaTakedown and #Fauxbotaxi hashtags (or just tag me directly).

Video will help experts figure out what's going on with this fleet.