Dive Brief:
- Driverless Tesla Model Y robotaxis are providing rides in Austin, Texas, and Miami, Orlando and Tampa, Florida, as of this month, the company said in its Q2 2026 update.
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on the company’s July 22 earnings call that it is growing the robotaxi fleet and adding cities “as fast as humanly possible” while focusing on safety.
- Employee rides in Tesla’s purpose-built Cybercab began at its Austin factory, Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja said on the call. The company is working with federal regulators and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to meet federal motor vehicle safety standards, Tesla Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy said during the call.
Dive Insight:
Tesla anticipates growing its robotaxi fleet while entering into new U.S. markets this year, Taneja said. “Robotaxi growth, so far, has been literally exponential while keeping an impeccable safety record,” Tesla Executive Officer Ashok Elluswamy said on the call.
“We have driven more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised robotaxis now across six cities in two different states,” Elluswamy said. “We have had zero notable incidents. Any reports have been of other [vehicles] impacting us when we were stationary.”
In comparison, Waymo said it had completed 220 million miles without a driver at the wheel as of March 2026. The company said that, compared with cars with a human driver, it has been involved in 94% fewer injury crashes and 93% fewer pedestrian injury crashes in the cities where it operates. Waymo says it’s serving riders in 11 U.S. cities and the greater San Francisco Bay Area; another 20 U.S. cities are on its “up next” list.
Uber, which partners with Waymo in Atlanta and Austin, is ramping up its own robotaxi ambitions, announcing plans to invest over $10 billion in the effort.
Tesla began manufacturing its Cybercab in April, according to a post on X. It is a two-seat vehicle with no pedals or steering wheel. However, it is being tested with those controls to calibrate the chassis, Musk said.
Taneja described the Cybercab as a vehicle where “you don't have to focus on driving.” In announcing the Cybercab in 2024, Musk said it would be priced under $30,000 when available to the public.
