As you may have heard, Tesla recently announced it would begin making fully autonomous vehicles. But if your enterprising mind immediately began thinking of ways you could make money by using your future self-driving car, say, by providing rides through Uber or Lyft, without actually driving, we’ve got some bad news: the electric carmaker will only allow its vehicles to be used on its own ride-share network.
ArsTechnica reports that included in Tesla’s website is a section that prohibits owners from using their vehicles for the purpose of collecting revenue — unless it’s through the still-to-be-created Tesla Network.
According to the section “Full Self-Driving Capability,” using your self-driving car to cart around friends and family is okay, but working for Uber and Lyft isn’t.
“Please note also that using a self-driving Tesla for car sharing and ride healing for friends and family is fine, but doing so for revenue purposes will only be permissible on the Tesla Network, details of which will be released next year,” the company says.
Of course, the company doesn’t say exactly how it will be able to determine if its newer cars are being used for ride-sharing, or why customers would even want to work in the ride-sharing business.
It should also be noted, ArsTechnica points out, that while Tesla says its future cars will come equipped with all the hardware to be fully autonomous, cars currently on the road aren’t, and thus, seemingly wouldn’t be held to the same prohibitions related to ride-sharing.
Don’t plan on using your autonomous Tesla to earn money with Uber or Lyft [ArsTechnica]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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