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Oh, This Is Bad News For Tesla!

The industry is beginning to abandon self-driving.

5 min readSep 4, 2025

Autonomous driving and robotaxis are the future! Right? Well, don’t be so sure. There are a wide variety of problems with these systems, ranging from the fact that they aren’t as safe as they claim to be to the fact that none of them has a clear path to profitability. But possibly the largest issue is that no one seems to want them. That is set to throw a huge spanner in the works for the entire industry, but especially for Tesla.

Some manufacturers have been getting ahead of this curve.

Stellantis has a Level 3 autonomous system called AutoDrive that is “available and ready to be deployed”, which can enable drivers to take their hands off the wheel and eyes off the road at speeds below 37 miles per hour, no matter the lighting or weather conditions. That makes Autodrive one of the most accomplished consumer self-driving systems available and puts it significantly ahead of Tesla’s FSD. It should hopefully turn Stellantis’ currently iffy fortunes around and enable them to become a dominant force in the market, particularly if this system were offered in their more luxurious brands, such as Chrysler or Maserati.

But no, they have chosen not to release it and will instead keep it on hold. Apparently, there is “limited market demand”…

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Will Lockett
Will Lockett

Written by Will Lockett

Independent journalist covering global politics, climate change and technology. Get articles early at www.planetearthandbeyond.co