Tesla Robotaxis Have Arrived And Taken Over Austin! Or At Least A Small, Pre-Selected Part Of It

Happy First Sunday of Summer! Or, to a certain subset of humans, Happy Tesla Robotaxi Launch Day. However, everyone — people, pets, anything that breathes — should be paying attention to these autonomous cabs, especially if you live in Austin, Texas, where the self-driving rideshare service is being deployed.

This is a Tesla first. Most importantly, this is a Tesla finally. After (counts fingers) six years of saying “next year,” CEO Elon Musk can now say, “Today.” Musk first announced his vision for the Robotaxi (the service’s official name) during the company’s Autonomy Investor Day in April 2019. And in what has become a bad habit, a nervous twitch, or an uncontrollable reflex, Musk said robotaxis would be on the road in 2020. As CNBC reported at the time:

“‘I feel very confident predicting autonomous robotaxis for Tesla next year,’ Musk said on stage at the Tesla Autonomy Investor Day in Palo Alto, California. They won’t be ‘in all jurisdictions, because we won’t have regulatory approval everywhere, but I am confident we will have at least regulatory approval somewhere, literally next year,’ he said.”

Um, just kidding? The year 2020 came and, mercifully, went (it was a peak viral time, ‘member?). But then, so did 2021, 2022, and 2023 come and go without a self-driving Tesla taxi in sight. Then Musk threw a curveball at our heads with the Cybercab, something he announced during the We, Robot event last October. I say curveball because, yes, although the Cybercab is a robotaxi, it’s not the one we’re actually getting. Not yet, anyway. 

Prelims: Cybercab vs. Robotaxi

The Cybercab and robotaxi are not equal parts of the same name. There is a difference between the two, which are often erroneously interchanged. The Cybercab is just another autonomous vehicle (AV) concept (important keyword right there) that has no steering wheel or pedals. A robotaxi, however, can be any make or model of vehicle that has been modified to operate without a driver. 

For example, Waymo launched its self-driving service with a Chrysler Pacifica. Eventually, it switched to the Jaguar I-Pace before inking partnership deals with Hyundai, Zeekr, and Toyota. Other mass-produced vehicles converted into robocabs include the Chevy Bolt, by the now-defunct Cruise, as well as the Ford Fusion and Volvo XC90, which Uber used for its self-driving fleet before selling off the whole operation. Amazon-owned Zoox is building its own bespoke van-like self-driving shuttles in an all-new manufacturing facility with public service to start soon in Las Vegas and San Francisco. 

Main Card: Tesla vs. Everyone 

Or, in this case, really just Waymo for now. Multiple startups and big brother-backed robotaxi services have crashed (literally) and burned out of existence. Or sued out of operations. 

Cruise and Uber autonomous vehicles were involved in pedestrian collisions, some resulting in fatalities. General Motors, a 90% majority owner of Cruise at the time, shuttered the autonomous ride-hailing service before wholly buying out the company earlier this year in order to integrate the tech within its vehicle portfolio. 

As for Uber, which graduated beyond peer-to-peer ride-hailing, the multi-level transportation company is not completely out of the robotaxi market. Uber has announced partnerships with autonomous vehicle tech companies, May Mobility and Momenta, to scale up its robotaxi offerings in the U.S. and Europe, respectively. Although expected to launch in Austin by the end of this year, autonomous rides won’t be broadly available until 2026. Same for Lyft, which also buddied up with May Mobility and other AV/ADAS companies Mobileye and Nexar. Its autonomous cab fleet is set to deploy sometime this year, starting in Atlanta.

Until then, there’s Waymo, which, the record will show, was the first company to launch a commercial ride-hailing robotaxi service. Those paid rides kicked off in Phoenix in 2018, a year before Musk even mentioned the idea of such a thing. Formerly under the Google umbrella, Waymo has since gone independent and currently operates in multiple cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and, you betcha, Austin. Atlanta and Miami are next on the list.

Main Event: Musk vs. Musk

I’m not even going to sugarcoat this: Musk needs a win here. Of all the promises and intent and speculation and setbacks, the robotaxi scheme, er, service has to work. Because if you haven’t been following the spectacle, Tesla sales are tanking globally, the haloed Cybertruck has become a Cyber-not, and Musk, a once favored friend with benefits to the U.S. presidency is now a frenemy at best.

But Musk is as excited as can be about today’s Robotaxi launch, which, by Tesla standards, has been rather low-key. From the announcement (psst, here’s some news) to the invites (“select guests”) to the fleet size (about a dozen Model Ys), the kickoff is more of a soft opening. As the Associated Press reports:

“The test is beginning modestly enough. Tesla is remotely monitoring the vehicles and putting a person in the passenger seat in case of trouble. The number of Teslas deployed will also be small — just 10 or 12 vehicles — and will only pick up passengers in a limited, geofenced area.”

Hmm, so, although there is no actual driver, there is a co-driver, so to speak. Now, whether this is Tesla’s own protocol or a requirement of its self-driving fleet permits with the city is unknown without me digging through Austin’s AV regulations. 

The geofencing does come off as a little suspicious, though. Is controlling the service area to minimize issues on launch day and before full expansion? Tesla hasn’t stated what neighborhoods are good-to-go, but it appears that once you’re in the dedicated Robotaxi app, you’ll see a map with distinct borders, as shown in this Teslarati article. You can also see the app in action courtesy of Tesla podcaster Rob Maurer:

Here’s a quick overview of the Tesla Robotaxi app! pic.twitter.com/AAtPZS1E5T

— Rob Maurer (@TeslaPodcast) June 22, 2025

Note that access to the Tesla Robotaxi app is an invite-only deal at the moment, so you can’t request a self-driving Model Y cab without the coveted “Early Rider access.” Should you receive the golden ticket, Tesla is very clear about what its Robotaxi service currently offers. Sawyer Merritt, a Tesla investor and tech news source with 900,000 Twitter/X followers, shared his invite on the social media platform:

BREAKING: I have been invited to ride in Tesla’s Model Y Robotaxis on day one this Sunday in Austin, Texas!

IT’S GO TIME BABY!!! pic.twitter.com/FGzG8oW9El

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 20, 2025

Merritt was also allowed to share the parameters of the Robotaxi service, the privacy rules (e.g., the vehicle cabin camera will not be recording), and what costs a Tesla robocab might include. Just for today, though, Robotaxi rides cost less than five bucks. Hey, thanks, Elon:

The @Tesla_AI robotaxi launch begins in Austin this afternoon with customers paying a $4.20 flat fee!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 22, 2025

Decision: A Draw

Look, this bout should’ve happened years ago. Tesla, past its prime in terms of favorability, is late to the robotaxi market. The bright side is that those who experienced a Tesla Robotaxi ride in Austin offered nothing but praise, to which skeptics will respond, “Of course, when you select who gets a seat.” And it’s a backseat at that. Nevertheless, for what it’s worth, the Early Riders have been livestreaming their entire commute, warts and all. You can watch the first Robotaxi guests via Tesla’s feed:

First @robotaxi experiences in thread below

— Tesla (@Tesla) June 22, 2025

Many of the Early Riders have also ridden multiple times. And, knock on wood, so far so good! No navigation glitches have been reported. Even better, no collisions. For that, Musk and Tesla get a win. But it’s also a very limited group traveling in a very limited space. 

When Waymo launched its Waymo One rideshare service to the public, its ridership was also limited to approved applicants. However, riders could travel throughout a greater area, including cities like Chandler, which is 25 miles away from downtown Phoenix. The Tesla Robotaxi maps that have been shared don’t look as expansive. Oh, and 100 minivans were in operation and not, you know, 10.

To get a knockout, Tesla will need to ramp up its Robotaxi fleet, even if just within Austin. But with Musk shifting his focus back on his EV company, maybe that might happen. In an interview with CNBC, Musk said:

“My prediction is that probably by the end of next year, we’ll have probably hundreds of thousands, if not over a million Teslas doing self-driving in the U.S.”

Flabbergasting. Even the CNBC host was at a loss for words. How Musk sees this happening is by using Tesla owners. The plan, which you may have heard of, will be “a model which is some combination of Uber and Airbnb” where owners can “add or subtract” their car from the rideshare fleet. 

All of the above is ambitious, but what is Tesla (and Musk) without fantastic, far-reaching goals? To the doubters, what Musk said in 2019 still holds true today: 

“Sometimes I am not on time, but I get it done.”

Top graphic images: Tesla; Carolco/TriStar