Tesla’s robotaxi service in Austin appears to be operating fully without human safety monitors aboard. According to a crowdsourced tracking project cited by multiple outlets, in the past two weeks it logged 170 rides that were all unsupervised. The monitoring reports indicate the rides involved 54 different Tesla vehicles and that no human monitor was present during these trips.
The Verge notes the change comes about seven months after Elon Musk said Austin robotaxis were operating without human safety monitors onboard. The Next Web similarly reports that independent monitoring shows the fleet has reached a fully driverless state over the same recent period. Engadget characterizes the development as the fleet “might” be driving unsupervised, reflecting that outlets base their conclusions on tracker observations rather than direct confirmation from Tesla.
Some reporting also references recent passenger video, which aligns with the monitoring accounts of unsupervised driving. Overall, the outlets agree the tracker data indicates the service has reached a driverless operational status in Austin.
