Tesla’s robotaxi service has been running in Austin since June 2025, and the announcements have been steady. It is worth separating what is deployed from what is permitted.
What is actually running
Service operates in Austin, Dallas and Houston in Texas, and Miami, Orlando and Tampa in Florida, using modified Model Y vehicles. Hours recently expanded to 6am until 10pm, seven days a week.
The fleet operating without a safety monitor has been tracked at roughly two to three dozen vehicles across all six markets. The company says it is now considerably larger, without giving a figure.
Cumulative unsupervised driving passed 380,000 miles, with weekly mileage growing at a double-digit rate.
California is different
Bay Area operations still have a safety driver behind the wheel, because Tesla holds a testing permit rather than a driverless deployment permit there. It is a ride-hailing service with a human driver, which is a materially different product.
Permits versus vehicles
Nevada regulators approved permits allowing up to 8,000 robotaxis in Clark County over twelve months – 5,000 for Tesla, 1,000 each for Waymo and Uber. Those are ceilings, not deployments. The gap between a permit for 5,000 vehicles and a fleet of 5,000 vehicles is the entire remaining problem.
The Cybercab question
The purpose-built two-seater with no steering wheel or pedals is scheduled for an Austin launch event in early September, initially for employees before joining the public service.
Removing the controls removes the fallback entirely. Tesla says remote operators can intervene in emergencies and has acknowledged it needs more Cybercab-specific driving data before deploying at scale – which is a notably measured statement from a company not known for them.
What to watch
Not announcements. Fleet counts, intervention rates, and whether the service operates in weather and conditions it currently avoids. Those are the numbers that distinguish a demonstration from a business, and they are the ones least often published.