Tesla just took the safety wheels off. The automaker is now offering fully driverless robotaxi rides in Austin with no human safety monitor behind the wheel, CEO Elon Musk announced Thursday. It's a bold leap for a company that's faced years of scrutiny over its autonomous driving claims, and it puts Tesla in direct competition with Waymo and Zoox in the high-stakes race to commercialize self-driving tech. After months of testing with safety drivers on board, Tesla's betting its AI is ready for passengers to ride solo.
Tesla just made its biggest autonomous bet yet. The company started offering fully driverless robotaxi rides in Austin on Thursday, with no safety operator in the front seat to grab the wheel if something goes wrong. CEO Elon Musk broke the news on X, his social media platform, writing: "Just started Tesla Robotaxi drives in Austin with no safety monitor in the car. Congrats to the Tesla AI team!"
It's a milestone that's been years in the making, and one that immediately puts Tesla in the same league as Waymo and Zoox, both of which already operate commercial driverless taxi services. But Tesla's path here has been rocky. The company launched its Austin robotaxi program back in June 2025 with safety drivers in the passenger seat, offering rides to influencers and handpicked customers. Then in December, it started testing without any safety driver at all.
Now those tests have graduated to public rides. According to Tesla AI lead Ashok Elluswamy, the company is "starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors, and the ratio will increase over time." That's a cautious approach, but it's also standard industry practice. When expanded its driverless operations in San Francisco and Phoenix, it similarly started with a small fleet before scaling up.
