Tesla Robotaxi finally available to the public – if you have the right phone, of course
Tesla Robotaxi have been in testing for a while, but so far they’ve only been used by a select few—influencers, investors, and other invitees. In Austin, Texas, the vehicles are limited to a designated area, which, by the way, doesn’t include the airport—so if you were hoping for a futuristic ride from the terminal, you’ll have to wait a little longer. Tesla posted a photo of a 10-minute ride in Palo Alto, California, where a Tesla Robotaxi arrived in five minutes for the ridiculously accurate price of $4.20. (Yeah, we know what you’re thinking—someone in marketing is clearly a fan of memes.) The price is currently fixed, excluding tips, but Tesla’s website warns that it could change faster than Elon Musk tweets a new promise.
Actually Smart Summon keeps you dry https://t.co/t9T4NXjHkY
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 3, 2025
The service is also expanding to San Francisco, but still with safety drivers behind the wheel or in the passenger seat, depending on the type of ride. In Austin, robo-taxis have also started driving on highways, but only with a safety driver ready to take control if Tesla's artificial intelligence experiences a moment of confusion. New law in Texas that went into effect September 1, further complicating matters: driverless vehicles must be certified as autonomous at level 4 or 5, which Tesla has not yet achieved with its Full Self-Driving system (which is currently only level 2-3 officially). Tesla is awaiting certification. So, it won't work without a safety driver just yet.
Tesla is catching up with the competition – Waymo reigns supreme – although there is a gray area here.
Although Tesla likes to emphasize its visionary boldness, it's not exactly at the forefront of the robo-taxis world with Tesla's Robotaxi. Alphabet's Waymo has been successfully operating its fully autonomous vehicles without safety drivers in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Phoenix and Atlanta for years, and it's continuing to expand. Waymo uses more advanced technology, including lidar and redundant systems, while Tesla relies solely on cameras and its vision (pun intended). MotorTrend recently compared the ride between Tesla's robo-taxis and Waymo's Jaguar I-Pace in Austin. The result? Tesla's robo-taxis promises a lot, but it's nowhere near catching up to Waymo's leader. Tesla has also been attracting regulatory scrutiny and lawsuits for some time due to its bold claims about autonomy. But opinions are divided. Musk argues that FSD technology is the only one that is truly scalable.
Musk's vision: robo-taxis and robots over electric cars
Elon Musk makes no secret of the fact that he sees Tesla's future in robo-taxis and humanoid robots, not in the aging fleet of electric vehicles that once laid the foundation for the company's success. For years, he has promised that the Model 3 and Model Y, equipped with Full Self-Driving technology, will allow owners to earn money when their cars are not in use. Musk predicts that in less than a year there will be millions of autonomous Teslas on the roads. Well, considering that we have been hearing similar promises for almost a decade, let's allow ourselves a little skepticism.
FSD 12.5.1 starts wide release today.
Please connect your Tesla to WiFi to receive the update.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2024
The end of Dojo and a new addiction to Nvidia
Another interesting detail: Tesla has abandoned development of its Dojo supercomputer, which Musk once described as key to achieving full autonomy. Instead, they now rely on Nvidia and other semiconductor suppliers and cloud services for the necessary computing power. While they are only developing the Grok infrastructure very well, it is not clear exactly how this affects FSD. This has put Tesla in the eyes of investors as another conventional manufacturer of assistance systems, rather than a leading player in autonomous driving. The competition is fierce – Mercedes and China’s BYD are at the forefront, while Volkswagen, Ford, GM and Zoox are also not sleeping. However, it is true that not all the details have been disclosed. And, that Musk is developing his own AI.
Actually Smart Summon keeps you dry https://t.co/t9T4NXjHkY
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 3, 2025
Conclusion: The future or another Musk fairy tale?
Tesla's entry into the robo-taxi market with Tesla Robotaxi is exciting, but for now it feels more like a bold experiment than an established service. With app limitations, safety drivers, and a lag behind the competition, Tesla will have to speed up a lot if it wants to catch up with Waymo and others. If you're thinking about downloading the app, prepare for a waiting list — and maybe some unexpected twists, because with Tesla, you never know when Musk will tweet something that will turn everything upside down. What do you think, will Tesla really change the rules of the game, or is this just another futuristic story? Share your thoughts in the comments!
