Regulatory Gap: Musk Announces Mass Rollout of Robotaxis in the US

The chasm between American pragmatism and European bureaucracy is becoming insurmountable. On May 18, 2026, at the Smart Mobility Summit in Tel Aviv, Elon Musk stated that he expects the widespread, mass use of self-driving Tesla cars in the US as early as this year.

This bold statement comes in sharp contrast: just a couple of weeks ago (May 5), a European regulator forcibly downgraded the status of Tesla FSD, obliging Europeans to keep their hands on the wheel. The difference in approaches determines who will win the technological race. While Brussels stifles innovation with overly cautious compliance, the United States is giving algorithms the "green light" on real roads. The scaling of fully autonomous transport is a powerful macroeconomic driver, and the US intends to monetize its neural networks without waiting for the approval of international ethics committees.

Source: Smart Mobility Summit / Reuters