A Tesla robotaxi in Austin, Texas, on June 22, when the vehicles were launched in the city. (Tim Goessman\/Bloomberg)<\/p>\n
\n January 22, 2026 3:00 PM, EST<\/p>\n
[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox<\/a>.]<\/p>\n Tesla Inc. is beginning to offer actual robotaxi rides in Austin, a milestone for the carmaker that launched a service<\/a> seven months ago with vehicles that have relied on human supervisors sitting in front seats.<\/p>\n CEO Elon Musk touted the development in an\u00a0X post<\/a>\u00a0Jan. 22, sharing a video from an ex-Tesla artificial intelligence engineer. The CEO announced last month that testing without any occupants in the company\u2019s cars\u00a0was underway<\/a>.\n \t \t\t<\/p>\n Tesla\u2019s head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, wrote in a separate post that \u201ca few<\/a>\u201d of the vehicles in the company\u2019s Robotaxi fleet will be unsupervised. The ratio of vehicles without safety monitors will increase over time, he said.<\/p>\n Musk has increasingly emphasized Tesla\u2019s work with AI and robotaxi ambitions as the company has struggled with\u00a0declining vehicle sales<\/a>. While taking customers for rides without human backups on board is likely to boost sentiment about the capability of its driving system, Tesla has reported to regulators that the small fleet of cars operating in the Texas capitol were involved in eight crashes in six months last year.\n \t\t<\/p>\n Tesla\u2019s stock rose to session highs after the post, climbing as much as 4% as of 2:30 p.m. in New York. Shares of Uber Technologies and Lyft Inc. dropped more than 3% in intraday trading before paring declines.<\/p>\n Just started Tesla Robotaxi drives in Austin with no safety monitor in the car.<\/p>\n Congrats to the @Tesla_AI<\/a> team!<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested in solving real-world AI, which is likely to lead to AGI imo, join Tesla AI. Solving real-world AI for Optimus will be 100X harder than cars. https:\/\/t.co\/OnP8gredWD<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 22, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Musk said repeatedly in 2025 that Tesla would offer unsupervised rides before year-end. Other predictions were much further off the mark: In July, he estimated<\/a> that\u00a0half the U.S. population\u00a0might have access to autonomous Tesla rides by the end of the year.<\/p>\n Austin is the only city where Tesla is offering Robotaxi rides. While the company started a taxi service<\/a> in the San Francisco Bay Area last year, it has yet to apply for a permit to test autonomous vehicles without safety drivers in California.<\/p>\n RELATED:\u00a0Tesla Faces California Sales Halt Over Marketing of Autopilot<\/a><\/p>\n Tesla is lagging behind Alphabet Inc.\u2019s Waymo<\/a>, which started offering driverless rides in the Phoenix area in\u00a0late 2018. The company also is operating in Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Miami.<\/p>\n Want more news? Listen to today’s daily briefing below\u00a0or go here for more info:<\/a><\/p>\n