Tesla has begun testing its Robotaxi vehicles without any occupants in Austin, Texas, marking a key step toward fully autonomous rides. CEO Elon Musk confirmed the development on December 14, 2025, with two Model Y units spotted driving on public roads. This follows the removal of safety monitors, as the company aims to launch driverless services soon.
On December 14, 2025, Tesla initiated testing of its Robotaxi fleet in Austin, Texas, operating without any vehicle occupants or safety drivers. Elon Musk, the company's CEO, confirmed this milestone via a post on X, stating, "Testing is underway with no occupants in the car." Eyewitness accounts and social media posts captured two Tesla Model Y Robotaxi units navigating public roads in the South Congress and Dawson neighborhoods on the south side of the city. These vehicles showed no human presence inside, with one spotted from the side revealing an empty cabin and the second confirmed as a distinct unit by differing license plates.
This testing phase comes just a week after Musk announced that Tesla would remove safety monitors from its vehicles within the next three weeks. The Robotaxi program launched in June 2025, and the company has been focused on achieving unsupervised autonomy to meet growing demand. The current tests use a specialized version of Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, optimized for Austin's geofenced environment, described by Musk as a "quite a small model" in a recent xAI event. He expressed confidence, noting, "Unsupervised is pretty much solved at this point," during the final validation phase where the system must demonstrate rare failures requiring human intervention.
Tesla plans to expand this to a full driverless fleet in Austin within three weeks, via an over-the-air software update. This rapid progression contrasts with competitors like Waymo, who took years to reach similar points. For now, the tests validate the technology's readiness, providing data to refine future nationwide deployment with a more advanced FSD model expected in early 2026.
