Overview
- Waymo opened fully driverless public rides in Miami, its sixth U.S. city, with an initial 60‑square‑mile service area that does not yet include the airport.
- Elon Musk announced some Tesla robotaxis in Austin are now operating without an onboard safety monitor, with Tesla’s autonomy lead saying only a few vehicles are included at first.
- Video and reporting indicate Tesla’s Austin cars may still be shadowed by a separate vehicle carrying a remote safety overseer, suggesting the program has not reached unmonitored SAE Level 4 operation.
- Tesla continues to require onboard supervisors in San Francisco due to permitting limits, whereas Waymo runs fully driverless fleets using a multi‑sensor stack across several cities.
- Coverage citing NHTSA reports at least eight Tesla robotaxi crashes since June 2025 with a roughly tenfold higher accident rate than average human drivers, while Waymo’s data show an 80–90% reduction in more severe crashes over tens of millions of autonomous miles.