Tesla Robotaxis Autonomous in Texas, Musk Promises Wide US Expansion 2026

At the World Economic Forum currently taking place in Davos, Elon Musk promised that Tesla will offer a wide network of driverless robotaxis in the United States by the end of this year. "Tesla has launched its robotaxi service in some cities and will be very, very widespread in the US by the end of this year," said the Tesla CEO. Tesla's robotaxis are available in the San Francisco area and in Austin, Texas, but so far only with a chaperone. However, in the capital of Texas, Tesla has now started operating fully autonomous taxis.

In June 2025, Tesla began its robotaxi service with restrictions in Austin, but the offering was initially limited to a manageable part of the downtown area of the Texas capital and only 10 to 20 vehicles at the start. For safety reasons, a supervisor also had to ride in the passenger seat to intervene if necessary. However, at the beginning, there were alleged violations of traffic rules. Tesla's robotaxis were too fast or in the wrong lane, prompting US authorities to investigate the cases.

Tesla Robotaxi Fully Autonomous in Texas

But now Elon Musk announced on X that Tesla has launched its robotaxi service with fully autonomous vehicles without a chaperone in Austin. However, this is currently limited to some cars, as Tesla's head of AI and robotics engineer Ashok Elluswamy added on X. According to him, "initially a few unsupervised vehicles will be integrated into the larger robotaxi fleet with safety drivers, with the ratio increasing over time."

In contrast, Tesla taxis in San Francisco, California, must continue to operate with a chaperone, as the company according to CNBC does not yet have a license to test or operate driverless cars on public roads. There are doubts about how reliably the robotaxis can drive, because unlike, for example, Waymo's autonomous taxis, Tesla's rely solely on cameras to navigate their surroundings. There are no more expensive laser radars on board. However, if Tesla's plan succeeds, the company would have a significant cost advantage over Waymo and other providers.

Waymo Robotaxis Now Also in Miami

Meanwhile, the competition is further expanding its reach. On Thursday, Waymo launched its public robotaxi service in Miami, as the Google subsidiary announced. Although Miami is initially only partially served, and the airport is not yet included, the major city in Florida is the sixth city after San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta where Waymo robotaxis are operating.

In addition, the service enjoys great popularity. In early 2025, Google announced that Waymo had doubled the number of robotaxi rides within just one year. According to the report, Waymo's robotaxis now complete 200,000 rides per week, with the fleet, according to Bloomberg, now comprising around 2,500 vehicles. The Google subsidiary plans to serve eleven more cities in the US soon according to its own statements. Internationally, the robotaxi service is planned to be expanded to London and Tokyo in the long term.

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