{"id":351794,"date":"2026-07-25T01:12:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T01:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/351794\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T01:12:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T01:12:46","slug":"tesla-robotaxis-now-up-and-running-on-orlando-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/351794\/","title":{"rendered":"Tesla Robotaxis now up and running on Orlando roads"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" data-attachment-id=\"424453\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/news\/orlando-area-news\/tesla-robotaxis-now-up-and-running-on-orlando-roads\/attachment\/hmr8gfwauaageij\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HMR8GfWaUAAGEIJ.jpg?fit=1200%2C1800&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1200,1800\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"HMR8GfWaUAAGEIJ\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HMR8GfWaUAAGEIJ.jpg?fit=683%2C1024&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HMR8GfWaUAAGEIJ.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-424453\"  \/>Credit: Tesla Robotaxi\/X<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tesla\u2019s version of self-driving ride share vehicles have made their way to Orlando\u2019s roads.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tesla Robotaxis are now active in parts of Orlando, one of just six cities chosen to host the rollout.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The driverless vehicles use cameras and AI-based software to navigate roads. According to an <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/robotaxi\/status\/2079551968725303500\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">X post from Tesla<\/a>, the vehicles are currently operating in a 25- to 45-square mile zone around the Semoran Boulevard and Lee Vista region near Orlando International Airport. The service cannot yet drop off riders directly at MCO terminals, theme parks or the downtown Orlando area.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rides start at $3.25 plus about $1 per mile.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Robotaxis launched in Orlando and Tampa at the same time, joining Miami as the only Florida cities offering the service. One day after launch, a robotaxi was seen going <a href=\"http:\/\/wfla.com\/news\/hillsborough-county\/it-was-really-scary-viewer-reacts-to-tesla-robotaxi-going-wrong-direction-on-one-way-street\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">the wrong way down a one-way street in Tampa<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The only other state hosting the vehicles is Texas, with ride options in Houston, Dallas and Austin, where the service launched last June.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tesla Robotaxis have already had several operational issues since the Austin rollout, like vehicles driving over curbs, entering the wrong lane, braking abruptly or speeding. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration probe was launched in the spring after Tesla Robotaxi technology was linked to nine collisions, including one fatal incident. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statesman.com\/business\/article\/austin-robotaxi-crashes-avride-waymo-22264498.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">A total of 17 incident reports<\/a> have been recorded by the NHTSA in Austin since its launch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The vehicles are a direct competitor to Waymo, another self-driving vehicle company that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/news\/waymo-has-arrived-in-orlando\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">launched in Orlando in February<\/a> \u2014 and that has similarly experienced some issues. Unlike the Robotaxi, Waymo vehicles operate using lidar sensors to navigate. Waymo has received criticism for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/komonews.com\/newsletter-daily\/waymo-seattle-expansion-safety-concerns-driverless-cars-prepares-for-autonomous-operations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">risks to public safety<\/a>\u00a0and for its potential to undermine publicly owned and operated transit systems (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2024-10-24\/robotaxis-aren-t-going-to-help-save-public-transportation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">despite incentives<\/a>\u00a0Waymo has offered for people to use both).<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tesla CEO Elon Musk expects the Robotaxis to be a widespread operation by the end of the year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Travelers can order a robotaxi ride via the <a href=\"http:\/\/tesla.com\/robotaxi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Tesla Robotaxi mobile app<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Related Stories<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/news\/camping-world-stadiums-400-million-makeover-plan-unveiled\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784941965_858_DLR-Group_Camping-World-Stadium_R14-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-newspack-article-block-landscape-medium size-newspack-article-block-landscape-medium wp-post-image\" alt=\"Camping World Stadium\u2019s $400 million makeover plan unveiled\" data-hero-candidate=\"1\"   data-attachment-id=\"424305\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/news\/camping-world-stadiums-400-million-makeover-plan-unveiled\/attachment\/dlr-group_camping-world-stadium_r14-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DLR-Group_Camping-World-Stadium_R14-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1200,675\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"DLR Group_Camping World Stadium_R14\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DLR-Group_Camping-World-Stadium_R14-1.jpg?fit=780%2C439&amp;ssl=1\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tOn top of the upgrades, $61 million of the renovation tab will go toward a new event center\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/news\/elections\/mom-for-liberty-running-for-orange-county-school-board-chair\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/54717262984_4791442b96_c.webp.webp\" class=\"attachment-newspack-article-block-landscape-medium size-newspack-article-block-landscape-medium wp-post-image\" alt=\"Mom for Liberty running for Orange County school board chair\" data-hero-candidate=\"1\"   data-attachment-id=\"395225\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/news\/orange-county-school-board-rejects-bid-to-ditch-lgbtq-history-month-proclamation-40180627\/attachment\/54717262984_4791442b96_c-webp\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/54717262984_4791442b96_c.webp.webp?fit=800%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"800,600\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"54717262984_4791442b96_c.webp\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Orange County School Board member Alicia Farrant (Aug. 12, 2025)&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/54717262984_4791442b96_c.webp.webp?fit=780%2C585&amp;ssl=1\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tMoms for Liberty member Alicia Farrant faces off against fellow school board member Angie Gallo for the chair position.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/news\/orlando-area-news\/orlando-rents-remain-stable-yet-still-out-of-reach-for-average-renter-report-shows\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/adobestock_218782870-scaled.webp\" class=\"attachment-newspack-article-block-landscape-large size-newspack-article-block-landscape-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Orlando rents remain stable yet still out of reach for average renter, report shows\" data-hero-candidate=\"1\"   data-attachment-id=\"315155\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/news\/florida-lawmakers-want-to-expand-renter-protections-amid-affordable-housing-crisis-24589546\/attachment\/adobestock_218782870\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/adobestock_218782870-scaled.webp?fit=2560%2C1707&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1707\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"adobestock_218782870\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/adobestock_218782870-scaled.webp?fit=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tYou still need to make nearly $70K a year just to comfortably afford the average one-bedroom apartment in Orlando, a new housing report shows.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"201\" data-attachment-id=\"417124\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/?attachment_id=417124\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/OW_JoinNewsletter_970x250_1.jpg?fit=970%2C250&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"970,250\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"OW_JoinNewsletter_970x250_1\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/OW_JoinNewsletter_970x250_1.jpg?fit=780%2C201&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784941966_377_OW_JoinNewsletter_970x250_1.jpg\" alt=\"Stay in the know in Orlando with Orlando Weekly's free newsletter.\" class=\"wp-image-417124\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Tesla Robotaxi\/X Tesla\u2019s version of self-driving ride share vehicles have made their way to Orlando\u2019s roads.\u00a0 Tesla&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1623,119256,5724,13719,139,141,140,14017,36120,63316,143870,3395,136805,6312,24480],"class_list":["post-351794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-apple-news","tag-florida-traffic","tag-florida-travel","tag-lyft","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlando-traffic","tag-orlando-waymo","tag-robotaxi","tag-robotaxi-crash","tag-tesla","tag-tesla-robotaxi","tag-uber","tag-waymo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}