Introduction to Autonomous Driving

Elon Musk’s Tesla has released a 30-minute video that is designed to excite fans and spark debate. The video, posted on June 28, shows what Musk claims is a historic milestone: the first Tesla Model Y to drive itself from the factory to a customer’s home without a person inside and without remote operation.

"The first fully autonomous delivery of a Tesla Model Y from factory to a customer home across town, including highways, was just completed a day ahead of schedule!!" Musk posted on X (formerly Twitter) on June 27. The Model Y, which is the world’s best-selling vehicle, navigates through parking lots, highways, intersections, and city streets, following traffic signals and stopping for pedestrians. The destination is a very happy owner’s home, approximately 30 minutes away from Tesla’s Austin Gigafactory.

Come hang out with us & Model Y for 30 mins

Full drive in 1x speed below https://t.co/lcClc85Hsn pic.twitter.com/3Ki7StYhsA

— Tesla (@Tesla) June 28, 2025

Musk emphasized that there were no people in the car at all and no remote operators in control at any point, claiming it was "FULLY autonomous." He continued, "To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fully autonomous drive with no people in the car or remotely operating the car on a public highway."

There were no people in the car at all and no remote operators in control at any point. FULLY autonomous!

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fully autonomous drive with no people in the car or remotely operating the car on a public highway.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 27, 2025

Fan Reaction

Fans on X were ecstatic about the achievement. "Thank you for changing the world and how we function" wrote one fan. Another fan commented, "Fantastic to see this happening and just shy of the 5th anniversary of the start of construction of Giga Texas! Historic!"

Thank you for changing the world and how we function — truly phenomenal to witness history being made. Just curious: if Tesla now has the tech where a car can drive itself fully autonomously from factory to a customer’s home across the city (even on highways!), could you help us…

— AIAgent (@ai_voiceagent) June 27, 2025

Fantastic to see this happening and just shy of the 5th anniversary of the start of construction of Giga Texas! Historic!

— Joe Tegtmeyer 🚀 🤠🛸😎 (@JoeTegtmeyer) June 27, 2025

The Self-Driving Race

The kind of video that makes you believe the future has finally arrived. But this is Elon Musk and Tesla we’re talking about—a company with a long history of over-promising and under-delivering on self-driving technology. To understand what’s really going on, you need to understand the high-stakes, multi-billion-dollar race to build a truly autonomous car.

The Tech Wars: Cameras vs. Lasers

At the heart of the self-driving race are two fundamentally different philosophies. On one side, you have Tesla, whose "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) system relies almost exclusively on cameras and AI. The approach, known as "Tesla Vision," argues that if humans can drive with just two eyes, a car should be able to do the same with eight cameras providing a 360-degree view. The car’s computer "sees" the world and makes decisions based on an immense amount of video data it has been trained on.

On the other side, you have companies like Waymo (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet). Waymo’s system also uses cameras and radar, but its key sensor is LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). LiDAR units spin around, shooting out millions of laser beams per second to create a hyper-accurate, real-time 3D map of the car’s surroundings. This gives the car a superhuman ability to "see" distances, shapes, and objects with precise detail, day or night.

The stakes are colossal: the company that cracks true, Level 5 autonomy—where a car can drive itself anywhere, anytime, without any human intervention—will not just dominate the auto industry, but will also revolutionize logistics, transportation, and urban life.

Reality Check: Deconstructing the Hype

With that background, let’s look at Tesla’s video again. The Model Y impressively handles various real-world scenarios. But Musk’s claims of a historic first are, characteristically, exaggerated. A few days ago, on June 22, Tesla launched a very limited version of its robotaxi service in Austin. Not only did it involve a small number of cars and hand-picked customers, but every vehicle had a human supervisor in the passenger seat and was restricted to a "geofenced" (geographically limited) area.

Furthermore, Musk’s claim that this is the "first fully autonomous drive with no people in the car… on a public highway" is demonstrably false. Waymo already offers driverless rides that include highway travel to its employees in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. While not yet available to the public, the capability has been operational for some time. The key difference is that Waymo has spent years collecting data and validating its safety in these areas with its LiDAR-equipped fleet, while Tesla seems to be rushing to create a public perception of leadership.

Our Take: A Breakthrough or a Carefully Choreographed Stunt?

This Tesla video is a PR win. But given Musk’s track record, a healthy dose of skepticism is warranted. It’s highly probable this specific 30-minute route was meticulously mapped and tested by Tesla under ideal conditions to ensure a flawless performance for the video. The real test of autonomy isn’t whether a car can complete one perfect, pre-planned trip; it’s whether it can handle thousands of unpredictable trips, safely, over millions of miles.

The most telling question remains: If Tesla’s system is truly "fully autonomous" as claimed in this video, why do its commercial robotaxis still require a human supervisor? Musk is a brilliant salesman, and this video is his latest, most compelling ad. It sells a vision of the future that is tantalizingly close. But as we’ve seen time and again, with Tesla, the gap between a promotional video and everyday reality can be vast. Until these cars are navigating countless cities without a human safety net, this "historic" first is little more than a brilliant, but likely brittle, piece of marketing.