Big things are happening at Tesla—and if you’re even slightly interested in the future of transportation, you’ll want to keep reading.
In just a couple of months, Tesla plans to launch something many thought was still years away: a fully autonomous robotaxi network, starting in Austin, Texas. That’s right—no drivers, no supervision. Just Teslas, driving themselves, and picking up real passengers for real rides.
The First True Test of Self-Driving Cars
Back in January, Tesla quietly revealed its plan to launch the network using company-owned vehicles in Austin.
By February, the company’s executive team doubled down, confirming everything was still on track. Elon Musk himself has since tripled down—stating with confidence that June 2025 is the big month.
As I’ve said previously, unsupervised full self-driving Teslas will be carrying passengers in Austin in June and many cities in America by end of year.
This will enable passenger cars to increase in utility by roughly half an order of magnitude overnight with a software update. https://t.co/ADgZNQzmRz
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2025
This isn’t just another update to Tesla’s driver assistance software. This is true autonomy, where the car does all the driving with no human behind the wheel. It’s what Tesla has been building toward for years.
California Is Also in the Game—But with a Twist
At the end of February, we learned that Tesla also applied for a Supervised Robotaxi license in California. That means the service is coming there too—but with safety drivers in the car, at least for now. It’s still a big step, and a clear signal that Tesla is expanding fast.
FSD Has Evolved—Fast
One reason Tesla feels ready? Its Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology has improved dramatically.
- FSD V12 was a giant leap from V11
- FSD V13 brought smoother, safer rides
- FSD V14 is coming soon, with powerful new tech like auto-regressive transformers and audio input for smarter driving
What felt like science fiction is starting to look like science fact.
More Cities, More Dreams
But Austin is just the beginning.
Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla plans to launch Robotaxi networks in multiple U.S. cities by the end of 2025. This isn’t just one bold move—it’s the start of a revolution in how people get around.
However, there’s a catch: only Tesla-owned cars will be part of the network at first. That means Tesla owners won’t be able to offer their own cars as robotaxis—at least not yet.
Your Tesla, Their Network—But Not Just Yet
So, when can regular Tesla owners join the robotaxi network?
Tesla says 2026 is the year they plan to open the network to customer-owned vehicles. That’s also when they hope to launch robotaxi services across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. By then, they’ll need a much bigger fleet—something only possible with customer participation.
The Road Ahead Isn’t Easy
There are still plenty of challenges. Regulations around autonomous vehicles are complex and vary across cities, states, and countries. Getting approval at all those levels takes time.
But Tesla seems determined to make it happen.
Launch Party at Giga Texas
To celebrate this historic moment, Tesla is expected to throw a launch event at its Gigafactory in Austin when the robotaxi service goes live.
There’s even talk that users with referral codes might get exclusive invites. Imagine being one of the first people in the world to ride in a driverless Tesla, not on a test track—but on real city streets.