THE Tesla officially started its service robotáxis autonomous In the city of Austin, Texas. Operation marks a significant step in the company’s strategy, which bets on autonomous driving technology as a pillar for its future. The launch took place last Sunday (22), in a limited phase and restricted to a select group of guests, mostly influencers.
Despite the promises made by ELON MUSK Since 2016, the service has not yet been totally autonomous. Each vehicle has a Tesla employee sitting on the passenger seat for safety monitoring, although the driver’s seat remains empty. The measure seeks to reduce risks while the company tests the system on public roads.
How Tesla’s robotax
- For now, the fleet is made up of about 20 units of Tesla Model Yversion 2025which operate exclusively in a delimited region of the city of Austin.
- The route covers part of the south side of the city, including busy avenues as South Congress Avenue and South Lamar Boulevard.
- The service, however, does not serve the local airport or further areas.
- Invited users can request trips through an application developed by Tesla herself.
- The races have a fixed fare of $ 4.20as announced Elon Musk on Social Network X (former Twitter).
- The service works daily between 6h and 12hand can be interrupted in adverse weather conditions.
- Each passenger can take a companion as long as both are over 18.
Technology and security challenges
Different from competing companies as Waymo and Zooxwhich use advanced sensors as Handle and radarTesla bets on a system that depends exclusively on cameras. The decision aims to reduce costs and accelerate the expansion of the service, but raises questions among experts on robustness and technology security.
Tesla herself faces investigations from National Traffic Safety Administration on US highways (NHTSA)which analyzes the safety of systems Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD). Although the FSD is sold as an autonomous driving solution, it still requires the driver to remain alert and ready to take control – which does not apply to the new robotaxis service.
The operation also has Teleperitorsprofessionals who can intervene remotely if the vehicle finds obstacles or unexpected situations.
Reactions, infrastructure and expansion
The launch of robotáxis occurs amid a challenging regulatory scenario. Recently, Texas parliamentarians have asked Tesla to adhe the start of the service by September, when a new state legislation requires specific licenses for autonomous vehicles. The request was not accepted by the company.
Despite the enthusiasm of the investors – Tesla’s actions went up 50% since Aprilafter falls motivated by low sales and controversies involving Musk – experts warn that the company still faces major obstacles to climb the operation.
“Growing or overcoming companies like Waymo will not be an easy task“Barclays analyst Dan Levy said. Professor Bryant Walker Smith of the University of South Carolina,” Tesla has not yet shown that her system has enough accuracy and reliability to operate in different traffic conditions. “
In addition to technical issues, the model requires a robust infrastructure. Other companies in the sector, such as German Moia (subsidiary of Volkswagen), they already work with decentralized networks of support points for vehicle loading, maintenance and cleaning – something Tesla will need to develop to expand.
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Cybercab future plans and promise
Musk said the next step is to put the Cybercaba vehicle designed specifically for autonomous operations, without steering wheel or pedals, and with estimated price below US $ 30 thousand. However, there is still no official date for large -scale implementation.
The billionaire also reiterated on social networks that he intends to have Thousands of robotaxis on the streets in the coming monthswith expansion to cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Tesla has opened an official website for interested in registering and receiving news about the service.
“Congratulations to Tesla’s software and chip design teams for the successful release of robotaxis. It’s the result of a decade of hard work,” published Musk at X.
Super Congratulations to The @Tesla_ai Software & Chip Design Teams on a Successful @Robotaxi Launch !!
Culmination of a decade of hard work.
Both the ai chip and software Teams were built from scratch Within Tesla.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 22, 2025
For now, the initiative remains restricted and monitored, while Tesla seeks to prove that its bet on computational vision – without high precision sensors – is really able to enable the future of autonomous mobility.
