AUSTIN, Texas — Tesla’s long-awaited robotaxis hit the roads of Austin eight months ago, and reports show that in that time, the vehicles were involved in 14 crashes.
Elon Musk’s answer to the self-driving vehicle market launched in Austin in June 2025 with about 10 vehicles in the fleet in a limited “geofenced” area of the city. By July, the first crash was reported.
According to a Bloomberg report citing data sent to the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHSTA) from Tesla, initial reports said the July crash only involved property damage, but Tesla submitted another incident report five months later that included minor injuries and hospitalization.
Another crash in July caused minor injuries; an incident in January involved a stopped robotaxi and a CapMetro bus; and another report outlined two incidents where a robotaxi backed into objects in parking lots.
EV site Electrek says Tesla robotaxis are crashing at a rate nine times higher than the average human driver, and alleges that company is redacting crash details in their reports. Bloomberg also mentioned Tesla’s redactions of narrative crash descriptions in their report.
One of Tesla competitor Waymo, which launched in Austin in 2025 through Uber, hasn’t been without its share of incidents. Last year, the company initiated a mass recall of 3,000 vehicles after cameras showed the vehicles failed to stop for school buses, leading to several close calls with students.
According to Electrek, Waymo includes narrative crash details in their incident reports to the NHTSA, which is something the site says proves accountability.