Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) stretched the nightly window for its Austin robotaxi service on Saturday, moving the cutoff to 11 p.m. from 10 p.m. as the company works on safer driving in darker conditions.
‘Trying To Solve,’ Says Elon Musk
In an X post, CEO Elon Musk said that the toughest nighttime hurdle is detecting animals that can blend into the road surface, writing: “The main thing we’re trying to solve is making sure that we don’t run over pets when they’re hard to see at night.”
Musk added, “Literally trying to avoid grey kittens on grey tarmac in the dark.”
Tesla’s driverless rollout in Austin began last year after long delays, and the company has been widening access across other Texas locations and into Florida, according to a report by Business Insider.
The company says its vehicles rely on “camera vision and sensors” for navigation, while Tesla’s manuals warn that dim lighting or poorly lit roads can reduce how well cameras capture reliable visual details.
Musk Points to Software Improvements
Musk also pointed to software improvements as one possible fix, saying: “Visual spectrum cameras can see very well in the dark when AI is doing the photon count analysis.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is separately investigating Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system over its ability to detect degraded visibility and alert drivers in time, including conditions such as glare, fog and airborne dust.
Rival Waymo uses LiDAR, which scans surroundings with lasers, but that system has also faced animal-strike incidents, including one late-night crash last year that killed a 9-year-old tabby cat named KitKat.
Tesla’s Animal Encounter
Tesla has disclosed an animal encounter of its own in Austin. NHTSA records show that a Tesla robotaxi hit a dog in September 2025 after the animal ran into an intersection. The vehicle slowed and steered left, but the dog made contact with the front-right bumper before later being seen running away.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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