Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Tuesday that the number of robotaxis operating in Austin, Texas, will double in December. This follows the introduction of Tesla’s self-driving service in the city earlier this year in June.
“The Tesla Robotaxi fleet in Austin should roughly double next month,” Musk wrote in a post on X, the social platform he owns.
Tesla has not disclosed how many robotaxis it currently operates.
At present, Tesla’s robotaxi service is active in two U.S. cities: Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area. Safety monitors are still required in each vehicle. The company recently secured a permit to run a ride-hailing service in Arizona as well.
In October, Musk said he expected robotaxis to operate without safety drivers across large parts of Austin before the end of the year. He also projected that Tesla robotaxi services would be active in eight to ten major metropolitan areas by year-end.
Back in July, Musk added that Tesla robotaxis could reach roughly half of the U.S. population by the end of this year.
After years of missed projections and repeated setbacks from high costs, strict regulation, and federal investigations, the robotaxi sector is now seeing renewed momentum. Tesla, Alphabet’s Waymo, and Amazon’s Zoox are all accelerating their expansion efforts.
