By Chris Kirkham

(Reuters) -Tesla CEO Elon Musk tantalized investors in July with a robotaxi update: After a small-scale test in Austin, Texas, Tesla would rapidly expand driverless cabs to markets including the San Francisco Bay Area, where it was “getting the regulatory permission to launch.”

Musk posted on X earlier that month that Tesla would deploy robotaxis there “probably in a month or two.”

The reality of Tesla’s San Francisco plans did not include driverless taxis at all. The automaker had not applied for the needed permits, a process that can take years of testing under state oversight. Instead, it planned pre-arranged trips in human-driven vehicles only for riders who received an invitation. And it would do this under a permit that is typically used for limousines and does no

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