AIBRIEF
The Thursday vote caps Tesla at 5,000 driverless taxis, Waymo at 1,000, and Uber at 1,000, with a local taxi and for hire drivers' trade group (the Livery Operators Association) already on record against the expansion.
The Nevada Transportation Authority voted unanimously on Thursday to authorize up to 8,000 commercial robotaxis (driverless taxis summoned by app) across Clark County over the next 12 months. The permits cap Tesla at 5,000 vehicles, Waymo at 1,000, and Uber at 1,000. Uber plans to operate its 1,000 through partnerships with the Hyundai subsidiary Motional and Zoox, which separately holds a 100-vehicle autonomous vehicle network company permit.
Eric Early, Tesla's Cybercab chief engineer, told the authority that the 5,000 figure "has always been a ceiling" and that Tesla would be "extremely happy and satisfied" to reach 2,500 vehicles in the next year.
Local taxi operators and the Livery Operators Association opposed the permits. Their attorney, Kimberly Maxson-Rushton, raised two stated concerns: "oversaturation of the commercial transportation industry as a whole in Nevada" and "overcrowding of the roadways, and specifically the Golden Triangle," the airport-to-Strip corridor where most of the demand sits.
The vote clears Tesla, Uber, and Waymo to begin commercial robotaxi service in Clark County. Tesla's permit filings (notice 26-05015 and certificate AVNC 002) are on the docket. The hearing is a development on the same US robotaxi storyline Type0 has been tracking in Austin, and Early's 2,500 number is a voluntary target, not a cap.