Driverless

Car company Tesla has rolled out its autonomous taxi in Austin, Texas, USA.

The gold-colored Cybercab is unlike its test version which, although self-driving, had a human driver to take over instantly. The final version runs entirely driverless and has no steering wheel or pedals.

Just a week into its deployment, a video of the robotaxi showing its safety features racked up 1.3 million views on X, New York Post (NYP) reports.

The video showed a man hopping onto the street in front of a moving Cybercab, which slammed on its brakes, before he hopped back onto the sidewalk, according to NYP.

The man, however, was not trying to cross the street. He was a prankster who kept walking into the street when the robotaxi resumed moving, forcing it to repeatedly brake. The Cybercab eventually stopped in the middle of the street with its hazard lights on.

Meanwhile, a taxi in Hong Kong carrying four passengers suddenly became driverless, as shown on a viral video that circulated online on 28 September.

The taxi was traveling eastbound on Ching Cheung Road near Nob Hill at about noon when the driver suddenly passed out, the video showed, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports.

The male passenger in the front seat and the three women in the back desperately tried to rouse the driver, who was unresponsive.

One of the women reached over, grabbed the steering wheel, and guided the vehicle with the help of the elderly man in the front seat, SCMP reports.

Fortunately, the passengers were able to safely stop the taxi against the curb, get out, and call for help.

The unconscious driver was rushed by ambulance to Caritas Medical Centre in Cheung Sha Wan, according to SCMP.