Tesla has expanded its robotaxi service to Dallas and Houston, bringing fully autonomous vehicles to three cities in Texas. The move comes after the company launched in Austin last year, with rides now available without safety drivers.
According to Tesla’s recent social media post, their driverless taxis are already rolling out on streets that once saw only human-driven cars. The video accompanying the post shows Teslas navigating the roads unattended, leaving human monitors and drivers behind.
The expansion highlights Tesla's progress in autonomous driving technology but also raises questions about safety and regulation. In February, the company acknowledged 14 crashes involving their Austin robotaxis since launch. This data suggests that while the tech is advancing, there’s still room for improvement.
For now, San Francisco remains the only other market with a limited human-crewed ride service, indicating Tesla's cautious approach to deploying fully autonomous vehicles on a larger scale.
The sparse initial rollout in Dallas and Houston shows that despite the company's ambitious plans, widespread adoption of robotaxis might still be some way off. Crowdsourced data from the Robotaxi Tracker website only lists one active vehicle in each new city, compared to 46 in Austin.
