Forget rideshare. How seniors are using Teslas for transportation

Posted by Talbot Payne on July 31, 2026

Leonard Kraus, 92, begins a FSD trip aboard his Tesla Model 3 in Maryland.

Leonard Kraus, 92, begins a FSD trip aboard his Tesla Model 3 in Maryland.

Leonard Kraud, The Detroit News

Tesla is expanding its Robotaxi rideshare service to include Florida, Texas, and California as it competes with Alphabet’s Waymo, Amazon’s Zoox, and other autonomous rideshare services. But consumers are already buying retail Teslas to self-drive them in cities across the United States.

Senior citizens most notably.

Determined to maintain their individual transportation independence, they are using Tesla’s hands-free Full Self Driving system as a driver assist. Though by no means exclusive to seniors in its ability to add another set of eyes to the road, FSD helps elderly drivers maintain a cocoon around their car as their confidence in reflexes and eyesight naturally deteriorate.

“It’s as good a driver as I am,” said Dick Amacher, 78, a retired General Motors engineer from Rochester Hills who drives his Model Y and Model 3 on FSD 98% of the time. “Here’s the thing: It will not go through a red light. It will not go through a stop sign. Every once in a while, I’ve driven through neighborhoods where stop signs were partially obscured by low-hanging branches, for example … and (the Tesla) sees them before I do.”

Read full article here.

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