Tesla’s robotaxi service in Austin appears to have reached full autonomy, with all 170 rides observed by a crowdsourced tracker over the past two weeks running without human safety monitors. The tracker, created by Ethan McKanna, documented 54 different cars in those unsupervised trips. This marks a significant shift from earlier in the summer, when the fleet of fully driverless Teslas seemed to be shrinking across Texas and Florida markets. McKanna, who recently interned with Tesla’s Robotaxi team, said the jump partly reflects improvements to his data sources, which rely on app users logging rides and other public information. He noted that Austin has seemingly halted supervised rides for weeks, and vehicles previously marked as supervised have been confirmed to offer unsupervised service.
The change extends beyond Austin, with McKanna reporting a sharp increase in unsupervised robotaxis in Dallas and Houston over the past week. His tracker had previously shown just 28 active unsupervised vehicles across six markets, meaning the Austin count alone now nearly doubles that figure. Some of the increase is due to better tracking methods, as McKanna revised the sources feeding his site after finding that some metrics were lagging. His findings align with recent reports from Austin-area users on social media platforms like Reddit and X.
The move comes as Tesla prepares to launch its purpose-built Cybercab robotaxi in Austin, potentially as soon as this month. Unlike the Model Ys currently in service, the Cybercab lacks traditional controls like a steering wheel and pedals, making the ability to operate without onboard monitors critical to its rollout. On Tesla’s most recent earnings call, CEO Elon Musk said the robotaxi program would scale rapidly but did not provide new targets for vehicle counts or cities, a departure from previous, more specific forecasts. A recent JPMorgan note suggested Tesla is intentionally limiting Model Y additions to the fleet to make room for Cybercab expansion.
Despite the progress, Tesla still trails its main competitor significantly. Waymo operates more than 300 driverless vehicles in Austin alone and roughly 4,000 across ten other cities. Tesla does not publish detailed fleet data, leaving trackers like McKanna’s as one of the few ways to gauge the service’s scope. Tesla did not respond to requests for comment on the findings. The unsupervised operations in Austin mark a notable step for the company, though the scale remains modest compared to its rival.
More technology news from TechManNews.
