Musk says Tesla launching driverless ‘robotaxis’

Sunday 22 June 2025 23:10

A Tesla robotaxi drives on the street along South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas

After driverless Tesla Model Ys were spotted traversing Austin, Texas streets on Sunday morning, CEO Elon Musk posted on his social platform X that Tesla’s “robotaxi launch” would start this afternoon with journeys for a flat fee of US$4.20.

A Reuters witness saw several Tesla “robotaxis” on Sunday morning in a popular area of the Texas capital called South Congress with no one in the driver’s seat but one person in the passenger seat.

Tesla planned to have front-seat passengers acting as “safety monitors”, though it remained unclear how much control they would have over the vehicles. Videos of driverless Teslas have also been posted on social media but it was not known if the vehicles carried any passengers.

As the date of the planned robotaxi launch approached, Texas lawmakers moved to enact rules on autonomous vehicles in the state.