Overview
- At an xAI Hackathon Q&A, Elon Musk said Tesla will remove passenger-seat safety monitors in Austin, calling unsupervised driving "pretty much solved" and citing ongoing validation.
- Tesla says it will roughly double its Austin fleet this month to about 60 Model Y robotaxis covering approximately 173 square miles, up from independent estimates of 15–30 vehicles.
- Since launching the invitation-only service in June, Tesla has recorded seven crashes in Austin, and its camera-only approach has drawn safety criticism from advocates.
- If safety monitors are removed, Tesla would join Waymo as a provider of fully driverless ride-hailing in Austin, where Waymo already operates a larger service.
- Musk also previewed a much larger Full Self-Driving model targeted for deployment in January or February 2026, as reporting highlights lawsuits that could force hardware upgrades and expose Tesla to significant liabilities.