Tesla has begun offering public robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, without safety monitors in the vehicles, marking a milestone in its autonomous driving efforts. The company announced the change on January 22, 2026, starting with a small number of unsupervised cars mixed into the fleet. This follows years of promises from CEO Elon Musk and comes amid competition from rivals like Waymo.
Tesla announced on January 22, 2026, that it has started public robotaxi rides in Austin without safety monitors inside the vehicles. CEO Elon Musk posted on X: "Just started Tesla Robotaxi drives in Austin with no safety monitor in the car. Congrats to the @Tesla_AI team!" This development builds on the service's launch in June 2025, when rides included human supervisors in the front passenger seat to intervene if needed.
Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's vice president of AI software, clarified the rollout: "Robotaxi rides without any safety monitors are now publicly available in Austin. Starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors, and the ratio will increase over time." The fleet primarily consists of Model Y vehicles using an advanced version of Tesla's Full Self-Driving software.
The announcement led to a stock surge, with shares rising from $438.77 to nearly $450. However, reports suggest limitations: video evidence shows some unsupervised robotaxis followed by trailing black Tesla vehicles likely containing safety monitors. Electrek described this as moving monitors to chase cars rather than achieving true unsupervised autonomy, noting Tesla's crash rate in supervised operations remains higher than human drivers at about one incident every 60,000 miles, compared to Waymo's safer record.
Tesla's Austin service is small, with trackers estimating around 32 vehicles, often fewer than 10 active. The company aims to expand, planning Cybercab production in April 2026 for future growth. This step aligns with Musk's vision but trails competitors like Waymo, which operates driverless rides in six cities with 450,000 weekly trips.
