Tesla’s much-anticipated robotaxi business is finally taking shape, with a fleet of driverless cars set to roll out as soon as this June. After unveiling a prototype for a specialized “Cybercab” last year and promising fully autonomous Teslas by 2025, Elon Musk confirmed in a recent earnings call that the company will soon begin offering self-driving Model 3s and Model Ys as a “paid service” — starting in Austin, Texas, then expanding to California and other U.S. regions by the end of this year.
“These Teslas will be in the wild with no one in them in June in Austin,” the Tesla boss said on the call. “This is not some far-off mythical situation. It’s literally five, six months away.”
What Is the Tesla Robotaxi Service?
Tesla’s robotaxis will provide fully autonomous rides on demand, picking up passengers and transporting them to their destinations without any human intervention or oversight. The service is set to launch in Austin, Texas in June 2025, with plans for a nationwide and international rollout over the following year.
Musk first teased the idea of starting a driverless ride-hailing service at Tesla’s We, Robot event in October, where he introduced the Cybercab — a purpose-built, fully autonomous electric vehicle users can order on-demand like they would an Uber. But with the Cybercab not slated to go into production until 2026, the new service will initially rely on Tesla-owned cars to ferry riders around Austin.
Musk said in the earnings call that these vehicles will be able to operate without a human driver, as they will be upgraded with a forthcoming unsupervised version of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software. Currently in testing at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, the software will soon expand to the company’s Austin facility, as well as others around the world. By 2026, Musk claims unsupervised FSD will be available to Tesla owners “everywhere in America” and even in “most countries,” potentially paving the way for a long-awaited Tesla Network, where owners can rent out their own cars as part of a shared, driverless fleet. But Musk acknowledged that is still at least a year away.
“We’re just putting a toe in the water, then a few toes, then a foot, then a leg to, you know, make sure everything’s cool,” Musk told shareholders, adding that the safety of both the general public and Tesla passengers is a “top priority.” Tesla and other self-driving car manufacturers have been linked to some pretty serious accidents (and even some injuries and deaths) over the years, leading some to abandon their efforts entirely and prompting legislators around the world to call for stronger governance of the technology. Even so, proponents of self-driving technology (including Musk himself) have long argued that human-operated vehicles also have accidents, and that autonomous vehicles could ultimately make the roads safer — even if they can’t eliminate the risk completely.
Meanwhile, the larger robotaxi industry is booming, with companies like Google’s Waymo and Amazon’s Zoox rapidly expanding their own driverless fleets throughout the United States. Now, Tesla is officially entering the fray.
What Is the Tesla Robotaxi Service?
Tesla’s robotaxi service will provide driverless vehicles on demand, Musk explained in the earnings call. Users will simply type their destination into an app, and the car will autonomously pick them up and transport them — without a human driver or human supervision.
Initially, the service will rely on a fleet of Tesla-owned Model 3 sedans and Model Y SUVs equipped with the company’s new “unsupervised” Full Self-Driving software — a more advanced iteration of its controversial “supervised” FSD system, which enables partial autonomous driving but still requires regular supervision. Thousands of Teslas are already using unsupervised FSD at the company’s Fremont factory, performing “reliably every day, thousands of times a day,” according to Musk, and testing is set to expand to the factory in Austin soon. Attendees at Tesla’s We, Robot event in October also had the chance to try the technology firsthand.
Musk expects unsupervised FSD to be publicly available nationwide starting in 2026, at which point Tesla owners all over the country will be able to rent out their vehicles when they aren’t using them — “kind of like Airbnb,” he said, where people can “add or subtract” their car from Tesla’s inventory of available robotaxis. But the company wants to ensure it has “ironed out any kinks” before expanding its fleet to include personal vehicles.
“It’s just a bunch of work that needs to be done to make sure the whole thing works efficiently,” Musk said. “That people can order the car, it comes to the right spot, does exactly the right thing, all the payment systems work, the billing works.”
Further down the road, Tesla’s robotaxi fleet is also expected to include its impending Cybercab (also referred to as Robotaxi), an all-electric, two-passenger vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals. But with production not expected to begin until 2026, it will likely be a while before the vehicle is available for ride-hailing.
Where Will Tesla Robotaxis Be Available?
Starting in June, Tesla’s robotaxis will be available in Austin, Texas, where the company is headquartered. An expansion to California is expected later this year, though Musk did not provide a specific timeline or name any cities that might be included. And California’s Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Utilities Commission both claim Tesla has yet to apply for the necessary permits to operate a commercial robotaxi service in the state.
Eventually, once the service is available across the United States, Musk told shareholders the company plans to expand it to Europe in May 2026. However, he added that Europe is a “layer cake of regulations and bureaucracy,” anticipating that there will be “mountain of paperwork” to deal with in order to release unsupervised FSD there.
Europe upholds strict safety and environmental standards for autonomous vehicles. And while the EU AI Act — the landmark legislation governing the development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence within the European Union — does not explicitly address self-driving cars, it will likely have a significant impact on the industry, as many AI systems used in these vehicles fall under the act’s so-called “high-risk” category, subjecting them to higher scrutiny.
Musk also highlighted China as a “gigantic market” (Tesla saw record-high sales in China in 2024). However, U.S. regulations prohibit the company from training its software within China, posing a significant challenge in safely deploying unsupervised FSD in the country. As a workaround, Musk said Tesla is using Chinese street videos pulled from the internet to teach its system how to understand things like local street signs, traffic rules and bus lanes.
“I think we’ll have unsupervised FSD in almost every market this year, limited simply by regulatory issues, not technical capability,” Musk added. “Unsupervised FSD in the U.S. this year in many cities, but nationwide next year. And hopefully we have unsupervised FSD in most countries by the end of next year.”
It’s worth noting, however, that many experts and analysts have expressed doubts about Musk’s stated timeline, citing his long history of overpromising and underdelivering, as well as ongoing technical challenges and global regulatory hurdles.
When Will Tesla Robotaxis Be Available?
Beyond confirming a June launch in Austin, Musk kept any other rollout dates fairly broad, referring only to “this year” and “next year.” As he noted, the pace of the service’s nationwide expansion will largely come down to regulations, which vary widely across the United States.
More than 35 states have enacted some form of driverless car legislation, and some are more accommodating than others. For example, states like California, Florida and Arizona allow self-driving cars on public roads, so Los Angeles, Miami and Phoenix have become popular cities for companies to test and launch their robotaxi services. Agencies like the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have implemented some rules and standards limiting autonomous vehicles, but any attempts to govern the technology with federal legislation have come and gone over the years, with no major restrictions on the horizon.
In fact, President Donald Trump reportedly plans to relax current rules around the technology, with new bipartisan legislation already in the works to establish new federal guidelines, according to Bloomberg. Proposed changes include raising the cap on the number of self-driving cars allowed on public roads, potentially accelerating the industry’s expansion. Meanwhile, The Senate recently approved Trump’s pick for Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, who said DOT plans to craft “clear regulations that balance safety, innovation and cutting-edge technology” — specifically mentioning autonomous vehicles, drones and even eVTOLs.
“This is a national security issue. We can’t fall behind China or other countries,” Duffy said at his confirmation hearing, referring to self-driving cars. “Right now, we have a patchwork of laws from state to state. I believe there has to be a federal law by which all of these innovators abide by. I will always make sure safety is key, but after safety we want to give a wide runway for these companies.”
Musk, a prominent Trump donor and close adviser, would benefit greatly from looser self-driving regulations, as they could eliminate key roadblocks preventing Tesla from deploying its robotaxi service nationwide in the next year. Still, the company would need to contend with regulations at the individual state level.
