Tesla’s Robotaxis Operate Unsupervised in Austin Before Cybercab Debut

Seven months after the announcement that Tesla Robotaxis in Austin would operate without human safety monitors, the service has seemingly transitioned to fully driverless rides. In the last two weeks, all 170 Tesla Robotaxi trips in Austin tracked by a crowdsourced platform were conducted without supervision, according to the site’s creator, Ethan McKanna. This involved 54 different vehicles. McKanna has also noted a significant rise in unsupervised Robotaxis in other Texas cities, particularly Dallas and Houston, where about 30 driverless Teslas have been active recently.

This marks a notable shift from earlier this summer when the number of unsupervised vehicles appeared to be stagnating or even declining. Just last week, the tracker reported only 28 active unsupervised vehicles across six markets in Texas and Florida. Now, McKanna has identified nearly double that number in Austin alone compared to the previous total across all six markets.

Some of this increase can be attributed to improved data accuracy. McKanna, who interned with Tesla’s Robotaxi team over the summer, mentioned that some metrics on his site had been outdated. After updating the data sources for the tracker, which relies on app users logging their rides along with other crowdsourced and public information, he discovered that more vehicles were operating unsupervised than previously indicated. He is currently working on updating the site to reflect this new data.

The change in Austin appears to be genuine. “Austin has seemingly stopped supervised rides for a couple of weeks now,” McKanna stated. “Plates previously marked as supervised have been confirmed to be offering unsupervised rides.” The findings from the tracker also align with reports from Robotaxi users in the Austin area on social media.

The tracker is one of the few resources available to monitor Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet, as the company does not release detailed fleet data and typically does not respond to inquiries. Tesla did not provide comments for this update.

This development comes as Tesla gears up to launch the Cybercab, its dedicated robotaxi, in Austin potentially this month. Unlike the Model Ys currently in service, Cybercabs are designed without traditional controls like a steering wheel or pedals, making the ability to operate vehicles without onboard monitors crucial for the Cybercab’s introduction.

During Tesla’s latest earnings call, Musk mentioned that the Robotaxi program would scale “very, very rapidly,” but did not specify new targets for the number of vehicles or cities, a shift from his previously more detailed forecasts that have often missed the mark.

Additionally, Tesla may be limiting the addition of Model Ys to the Robotaxi fleet in anticipation of the Cybercab rollout. A recent note from JPMorgan indicated that Tesla is intentionally holding back on expanding the Model Y fleet as it prepares for the Cybercab launch.

Despite the recent increase in unsupervised Robotaxis, Tesla still trails behind its main competitor in the robotaxi space. Waymo operates over 300 driverless vehicles in Austin alone and has around 4,000 vehicles across ten other cities.