Tesla Is Testing Robotaxis Without Safety Drivers — or Riders

Elon Musk confirmed this weekend that Tesla is testing its robotaxis in Austin without safety drivers on board, and his fanboys are losing their minds over it. There’s just one small problem: these tests also don’t have any passengers in the car.

The frenzy kicked off Sunday morning when an X user posted a video showing a Tesla robotaxi driving through Austin with no one inside. Musk’s supporters quickly reposted the clip and spread it across the platform, framing it as a major breakthrough.

“No one in the car. No safety driver. Fully autonomous. This is actually happening,” wrote one user.

Later that afternoon, Musk himself responded to the post, confirming the news: “Testing is underway with no occupants in the car.”

Tesla’s head of AI Ashok Elluswamy reposted the video as well, writing, “And so it begins!” Tesla’s official X account helped keep the buzz going, reposting the clip with the caption, “Just Saying.” That same night, the account added a more cryptic message, “Slowly, then all at once.”

It’s seems like a lot lot of fuss over a single video of a robotaxi driving itself — something Tesla’s competitors have been doing for years.

Tesla still has significant ground to make up on its biggest rival in the space, Alphabet-owned Waymo. Waymo operates a fleet of roughly 2,000 robotaxis across multiple cities, including Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Austin itself. The company recently reported it has surpassed 450,000 weekly paid rides, nearly double the 250,000 it logged in April.

By comparison, Tesla launched its robotaxi service in Austin in June as an invite-only program, with a safety monitor seated either in the driver’s or passenger’s seat. According to Robotaxi Tracker, Tesla currently has just 31 active robotaxis operating in the city.

That small test fleet has already been involved in at least seven crashes since June. Details of the accidents are scarce, in part because Tesla heavily redacts its reports to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, citing “confidential” business information. There are also multiple videos online showing Tesla Robotaxis making serious driving mistakes. To be fair, Waymo is no stranger to accidents either.

Still, Tesla has a long way to go even by Musk’s own standards. During a call with investors in October, Musk said, “We are expecting to have no safety drivers in at least large parts of Austin by the end of this year.”

With only 17 days left in the year, it’s still an open question whether Musk can meet his own deadline.