That has all the costs of the self-driving hardware, plus the costs of the remote drivers, but it maintains the illusion that Tesla is a growth company.
[1] https://insideevs.com/news/760863/tesla-hiring-humans-to-con...
> Waymo uses what it calls a “fleet response agent,” a human assistant the vehicle can ping when it gets confused by a complex traffic scenario. These agents can view real-time exterior camera feeds, examine a 3D map of what the vehicle sees and even rewind the footage like a DVR to get better context. “As with the rest of our operations, a helpful human is no more than a touch of a button away,” Waymo said in a blog post.
> Tesla's setup appears to be similar. The robotaxis will do the driving, until they don’t. Then a remote human may quietly step in to lend a hand.
It looks like the way this works is that the vehicle first has to come to a stop autonomously, and the control center then gives it instructions on what to do next. It's for getting out of stuck situations.
California's CPUC permit for Waymo operation does not allow teleoperation.[2]
Reviews of the job on Glassdoor indicate that it's more or less OK. No opportunity for advancement, but snacks are included.
[1] https://waymo.com/blog/2024/05/fleet-response
[2] https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/-/media/cpuc-website/divisions/consu...
[1] https://electrek.co/2025/05/29/tesla-testing-robotaxi-servic...