Elon Musk’s Tesla finally launches self-driving taxis after a decade of promises

Tesla deployed a small group of self-driving taxis picking up paying passengers on Sunday in Austin, Texas, with CEO Elon Musk announcing the “robotaxi launch” and social-media influencers posting videos of their first rides.

The event marked the first time Tesla cars without human drivers have carried paying riders, a business that Musk sees as crucial to the electric car maker’s financial future.

He called the moment the “culmination of a decade of hard work” in a post on...