The first autonomous taxi test will begin in Austin, Texas, at the end of June 2025, with about ten vehicles and a dedicated mobile app, the RoboTaxi app. Tesla is said to have already completed internal testing of the RoboTaxi app, and in the meantime, there is information circulating that the company is accumulating its own fleet of used Tesla Model Y vehicles for this service, which are said to be the first autonomous taxis. Elon Musk's ambitious plans suggest that Tesla could compete with or even replace providers such as Uber in the future.
RoboTaxi app – trial in Austin in June: Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that the company will launch its long-promised service RoboTaxi started testing on public roads already at the end of June this year, in Austin, Texas. Musk revealed in an interview with CNBC that they will initially drive around Austin approximately 10 self-driving Tesla vehicles, which will provide autonomous transportation in a limited area of the city – in “the safest parts” cities, he said. After a successful start, Tesla is expected to rapidly expand its fleet: They plan to increase the fleet to around 1,000 vehicles in a few months.Initially, they will still be present in the vehicles. safety drivers for control, as Tesla emphasizes a gradual and safe rollout of the service. In the initial phase, existing models (presumably Model Y), but in the long term, Tesla also plans special two-seater autonomous vehicles without steering wheels and pedals, therefore Cybercab, which is expected to enter production in 2026.
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RoboTaxi app is the future of mobility
Tesla revealed a preview of its upcoming RoboTaxi app in the spring of 2025. The screenshot shows a smartphone user interface through which a user can order a Tesla autonomous taxi, similar to Uber services - the route on the map and information about the upcoming vehicle are visible. Tesla has already conducted extensive testing internally: according to the company, employees in Austin and San Francisco have so far completed more than 1,500 trips using the test app, covering approximately 24,000 kilometers in the so-called "FSD Supervised" mode.
These internal tests are intended to develop and verify Full Self-Driving (FSD) software and mobile apps for RoboTaxi before the service is offered to the general public. Elon Musk confirmed at a recent business conference that RoboTaxi application ready for wider use, and the first round of service in Austin will be accessible by invitation only for selected users before expanding it to the general population.
Autonomous driving, or FSD, is part of other solutions. Optimus, SpaceX – they all use systems that are artificially intelligent. And in the background there is similar technology as in Groq AI.
Cybercab – will be the first Tesla Model Y
Dedicated RoboTaxi and a “fleet of used Teslas”: Tesla is also preparing for the future service by forming its own fleet of vehicles. Since 2019, Tesla has been in the US prevented customers from buying their vehicles after the lease expired, as Musk announced at the time that the returned vehicles would be used in an upcoming robotaxi network: “You can’t buy them back, we want them back,” Musk said in 2019, confidently predicting “a million robotaxis on the roads next year”Although this bold prediction did not come true, Tesla did receive back thousands of returned vehicles after lease expirations between 2019 and 2023 – a total of 1,000 vehicles were leased globally during this period. about 314,000 Tesla, which is 4.4 % of all vehicles delivered. Rather than storing them for a failed robotaxi fleet, Tesla has been using most of these used vehicles resold at a profit.
Cybercab will hit the roads in 2026. The autonomous taxis will initially be the Tesla Model Y.
According to the agency Reuters the company added software upgrades (such as the function FSD, which otherwise sells for around $8,000, and other paid capacity upgrades) and sold them to new buyers for a significantly higher price than they would have achieved by buying out old leasing users. This practice, although unusual, was legal and proved profitable for Tesla - while at the same time maintaining the impression among some investors that the company was rapidly preparing for the era of autonomous taxis.
In November 2024, Tesla quietly lifted the buyback ban and began allowing leasing customers to buy back their vehicles again, suggesting the company has changed its strategy due to delays in the introduction of robo-taxis and declining demand for used vehicles. However, Tesla initially launched RoboTaxi provides numerous vehicles on its own – The June pilot in Austin will be conducted with Tesla company vehicles and not private customer vehicles.
Tesla and Uber: competitors or joint carriers of new mobility
Musk's comments and Uber: Elon Musk emphasized in an interview that Tesla has no plans to partner with or buy existing platforms like Uber – instead, he wants to establish a completely own robotaxi network. He said he envisioned a future in which "Instead of calling Uber, you call an autonomous Tesla", which takes you to your destination without a human driver. Musk claims that Tesla has “millions of vehicles capable of autonomous driving”, therefore sees an opportunity for existing Tesla owners to join the RoboTaxi fleet and They rent out their vehicles when they are not using them. – similar to the AirBnB concept of the lodging world. This vision of a “sharing economy” for cars means that Tesla owners could earn money by renting out their vehicles, while Tesla manages the platform and technology.
Tesla will seriously compete with Uber.
Uber has expressed its willingness to work with Tesla in the past, but its CEO Dara Khosrowshahi admits that Musk “wants to go his own way with the RoboTaxi project”, which in his opinion positions Uber as the future Tesla competitor in the field of autonomous transportation. Uber and its competitor Lyft have abandoned the development of their own autonomous driving and are focusing on partnerships (e.g. with Waymo), while Tesla is betting on its technology and infrastructure.
In June – we will see the future and test – RoboTaxi application
The expected launch of RoboTaxi in Austin in June will be an important test for Tesla, which has been focusing all its efforts on autonomous driving in recent years. Musk emphasized that the “the only things that will matter in the long term are autonomy and the robot (the 'Optimus' robot)”, indicating that the company sees the future of value in robo-taxis and artificial intelligence. Analysts warn that commercializing autonomous vehicles is challenging – technologically, regulatoryly and financially. The US regulatory body NHTSA is already investigating the safety of Tesla's FSD system and has sent the company detailed questions regarding the planned robo-taxis service, particularly regarding operation in bad weather conditions and without a driver.
The first household robots will be cars. And maybe you already have one parked at home.
In Austin, Tesla still needs the appropriate local permits and will initially provide in-vehicle surveillance. Despite the challenges, a successful launch of RoboTaxis would mean a turning point in mobility – With an autonomous fleet and millions of users ordering rides through the app, Tesla could potentially transformed the on-demand transportation marketThe industry is watching with anticipation whether Tesla will be able to prove in the second half of 2025 that its autonomous taxis are reliable and safe enough for the general public – if they do, it could mark the beginning of new competition for giants like Uber, and a step closer to realizing Musk's bold predictions about a future without human drivers on our roads.
