Overview
Tesla, Inc. is an American electric vehicle and clean energy company whose autonomous driving functions centre on a camera-based approach and its FSD software, on which it runs its robotaxi mobility service. The company takes a different route from dedicated robotaxi operators such as Waymo by offering paid autonomous rides with mass-production vehicles.
Robotaxi service
In June 2025 Tesla launched paid robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, initially with a safety driver in the front passenger seat; from mid-January 2026 it began removing safety drivers, at first on a small number of vehicles, and by early June it had extended driverless operation across the whole geofenced area of Austin. In April 2026 it started robotaxi operations in Houston and Dallas, again including some driverless trips.
In California, Tesla has offered paid rides in the Bay Area since September 2025, but state rules require a safety driver in the driver's seat; fully driverless paid operation there would need permits from bodies including the California DMV and the Public Utilities Commission.
Scale and cost
Because Tesla discloses little, third-party researchers using crowdsourced data estimate an active robotaxi fleet of roughly 30 to 50 vehicles, of which only part operate at any time, with most vehicles concentrated in Austin. Researchers note that about 80% to 90% of trips are now unsupervised. A Tesla robotaxi vehicle costs about US$30,000, below the roughly US$100,000 of a purpose-built robotaxi; the company plans to replace existing fleet models progressively with Cybercab, its steering-wheel-free purpose-built model.