Tesla has officially launched its highly awaited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, June 22nd, eliciting initial reactions from users and observers alike.
However, there are some noteworthy limitations to the service. It is currently available only through an invitation and does not operate in a fully “unsupervised” mode, contrary to earlier assertions from CEO Elon Musk. Each vehicle is staffed with a Tesla-employed safety monitor in the front passenger seat who can deactivate the robotaxi in case of emergencies. While other autonomous vehicle companies typically only utilize safety monitors during testing, Tesla maintains this precaution during commercial operation.
The rides operate within a designated, well-mapped zone in Austin. Additionally, Tesla is utilizing chase cars and remote drivers for extra support in certain scenarios, though some robotaxis have been observed operating independently without chase vehicles.
According to Tesla’s website, the initial rollout of the service is invite-only, with several Tesla supporters having received invites. This leads to questions about the impartiality of early feedback. The company has not yet disclosed when the service might be made available to the wider public.
Initially, the trial involves 10 to 20 Model Y vehicles, each branded as “Robotaxi.” The fully autonomous Cybercab, which was unveiled last year, is not expected to be available until at least 2026. The service is limited to a specific time frame, operating daily from 6 AM to 12 AM, and largely avoids adverse weather, highways, airports, and complex traffic situations.
Despite setting operational hours, the robotaxi service reportedly started slowly. By 1 PM ET on the day of launch, several invitees had yet to gain access to the robotaxi app. Pro-Tesla commentator Sawyer Merritt noted seeing 30 Waymo vehicles pass by while waiting for the Tesla service, with Musk later tweeting that the service would be ready for initial customers later that afternoon. He announced a “flat fee” of $4.20 for rides, referencing a humorous connection to cannabis culture.
While users awaited access to the service, Tesla updated its website with a dedicated robotaxi page outlining the criteria and parameters of the service. Individuals can sign up for updates on when the robotaxi service might expand to other regions, with Musk previously indicating up to a thousand vehicles could be operational “in a few months.”
Once users accessed the app, Merritt shared a map of the service area, which appeared to cover a small section of Austin bounded by the Colorado River to the north, Highway 183 to the east, Highways 290 and 71 to the south, and Zilker Park to the west.
As the rides commenced, most experiences reportedly went smoothly. Numerous users shared live streams of their rides, showcasing their interactions with the app and their eventual destinations. Some videos spanned several hours, as users would conclude one trip and immediately request another. One tester, known as Bearded Tesla Guy, likened the app’s functionality to that of Uber. A number of users experienced difficulties pinpointing their designated Tesla robotaxi pickup locations.
“This feels like hunting for Pokémon,” commented a participant during one livestream, drawing a parallel between finding robotaxis and searching for the mobile game creatures.
Upon entering the vehicle, the safety monitor requested riders to display their robotaxi apps for identity verification. Throughout the rides, however, the monitors remained mostly silent, even as users attempted to engage in conversation. It remains unclear how Tesla plans to authenticate riders if the safety monitors are eventually removed from the passenger seat, a method employed by other providers such as Waymo, which uses app-based verification to unlock vehicles.
Each Tesla robotaxi features rear screens instructing passengers to buckle up and allowing them to initiate the trip by tapping an animated “start ride” button. Riders can also begin their journey directly from the app. The integration with their existing Tesla accounts ensures users have access to their preferred music streaming services, playlists, and saved songs during their ride.
The front display provides a visualization akin to that seen in Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology, while Musk noted that the robotaxis operate on a distinct version of FSD unavailable to standard Tesla owners. The center display includes buttons for “pull over,” “stop in lane,” and “support.” One tester, Chuck Cook, remarked that the visualization was missing some of the features recognizable in conventional Tesla models.
Pressing the support button puts riders in a hold queue while they await assistance from a remote operator. During Cook’s livestream, it took approximately two minutes for an operator to respond, who, despite a poor connection, acknowledged their call and offered support for any issues that arose during the ride.
Throughout the various trips, the robotaxis faced everyday traffic challenges such as U-turns, speed bumps, pedestrians, and construction zones. Riders often described the journeys as “smooth,” “great,” and “normal.” One tester on social media mentioned causing the robotaxi to experience a minor issue requiring remote assistance, although they did not characterize it as a disengagement.
Ashok Elluswamy, who leads the self-driving team at Tesla, shared a snapshot featuring numerous employees monitoring multiple live camera feeds from various vehicles. He captioned it as a “Robotaxi launch party.”
Looking ahead, Musk faces significant hurdles as he aims to introduce a robotaxi service in California, a state with a more intricate regulatory landscape compared to Texas. Although he expressed a desire for a cautious approach, he maintains that Tesla anticipates deploying over a thousand fully autonomous vehicles on the road within a few months.
In contrast, Waymo currently operates more than 1,500 driverless vehicles across cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin, with plans to expand into Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, D.C. by next year, during which it aims to increase its fleet to 2,000 vehicles.
