Tesla Robotaxi Spotted in Austin Without Drivers—But Still Listed as "Testing"

According to the official City of Austin website, Tesla is now listed as a "Known AV Operator", joining companies like Waymo. But while Waymo’s autonomous ride-hailing service is marked as in "deployment," Tesla's Robotaxi program is still categorized as "testing."

This raises questions, especially since Tesla is expected to officially launch the service by the end of this month. Over the past few months, a small fleet of Model Y vehicles with safety drivers has been spotted, and now—just days before the projected launch—driverless Teslas have been seen navigating Austin streets.

📊 For comparison, Waymo tested with a safety driver for six months, followed by another six months of fully driverless operation before being allowed to carry paying passengers.

If Tesla is truly on the verge of launching its Robotaxi service, the current “testing” designation may be outdated—but that's hard to confirm, as unmanned Tesla vehicles were rarely, if ever, reported in Austin until now.

Something doesn’t quite add up. Is Tesla accelerating its timeline—or just playing catch-up?