Tesla has expanded its robotaxi service in Austin, launching rides without any human safety driver inside vehicles, marking a significant step toward fully autonomous urban transportation.
The announcement came from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who shared the update on X, saying robotaxi drives had begun without safety monitors and praising the company’s artificial intelligence team for the milestone.
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This move follows Musk’s recent call for engineers eager to solve real-world artificial intelligence problems, arguing that such hands-on work at Tesla could accelerate progress toward advanced general intelligence systems.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, explained that only a limited number of vehicles are currently operating fully unsupervised, while the broader robotaxi fleet continues to include safety monitors as precautions.
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The expansion builds on a phased rollout that began in mid-2025 with supervised rides for selected users, later progressing to tests without front-seat drivers, while some human oversight and chase vehicles remain in operation.