Tesla has said it may launch a self-driving taxi service in California in August or September, as it also reportedly works on a launch of its Robotaxi-branded service in Arizona.

Following the company’s comments, California transportation authorities said Tesla had not applied for any new permits.

Chief executive Elon Musk said on social media on Thursday that a launch in the San Francisco Bay Area could come “in a month or two”, pending regulatory approvals.

Expansion

He added that Tesla was expanding its nascent service in Austin, Texas, which launched last month to a small group of invitees who are mostly Tesla employees and shareholders.

A spokesperson for California’s Department of Motor Vehicles said Tesla had not applied for either a driverless testing or deployment permit.

The California Public Utilities Commission, which in March issued the first of the permits Tesla needs to operate autonomous taxis in the state, said the carmaker has not applied for any new permits.

To date Tesla has only been issued with a transportation charter-party carrier permit (TCP), which allows Tesla to own and control a fleet of vehicles and transport employees on pre-arranged trips.

The carmaker has told California DMV officials it plans to use a phased approach and would initially transport employees in this fashion.

Arizona permits

Tesla has contacted the Arizona Department of Transportation to begin the certification process for autonomous vehicle ride-sharing, the agency said in comments that were widely reported by news media.

The department said Tesla had expressed interest in operating in the Phoenix metropolitan area, a region where several other self-driving taxi services operate in limited areas.

The department said a decision on the company’s applications was due by the end of July.

Separately, Musk said on social media that the Grok AI chatbot, developed by his start-up xAI that now owns social media platform X, formerly Twitter, could be made available for use in Tesla vehicles this week.

Futuristic tech

Tesla’s shares jumped nearly 5 percent on Thursday following Musk’s comments, partially easing a previous slump that registered a few days earlier after Musk said he would form a new political party.

The company has emphasised autonomous driving and humanoid robots as its car sales have sagged this year.

Tesla’s shares are down about 30 percent this year.