Tesla Launches Unsupervised Robotaxi Rides in Austin

Tesla has begun offering robotaxi rides to the public in Austin, Texas, without safety monitors inside the vehicles, marking a shift in its autonomous driving operations, though videos indicate supervision continues from trailing chase cars.

The deployment started this week, with Chief Executive Elon Musk announcing the change on his social media platform X. "Just started Tesla Robotaxi drives in Austin with no safety monitor in the car," Musk wrote on Thursday, congratulating the company's AI team. Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's head of Full Self-Driving software, confirmed the update, stating on social media, "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 service, which uses Model Y vehicles equipped with an advanced version of Tesla's Full Self-Driving software, allows passengers to hail rides via an iOS app. Early riders, including Tesla enthusiast Joe Tegtmeyer, shared videos of their experiences, describing trips with only the passenger and no one in the front seat. In one video, Tegtmeyer noted a...