Tesla lands on date for Robotaxi launch in Austin: report

Tesla has reportedly landed on a set date for its launch of the Robotaxi platform in Austin, Texas.

Bloomberg is reporting that Tesla has discussed June 12 internally, and there is still the potential for it to change.

The date comes after Tesla tested the driverless ride-sharing platform on public roads in Austin, and has been for several weeks. The report said that Tesla started doing it this week, and CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X by saying:

“For the past several days, Tesla has been testing self-driving Model Y cars (no one in driver’s seat) on Austin public streets with no incidents.”

The report indicates a person was in the vehicle, but not in the driver’s seat. Instead, a Tesla engineer sat in the passenger seat of a Model Y, “which drove autonomously with no remote operation.”

Tesla set for ‘golden age of autonomous’ as Robotaxi nears, ‘dark chapter’ ends: Wedbush

The testing has successfully gone on a month ahead of the company’s deadline of June 30.

Currently, Tesla’s plans for the initial rollout of the suite are extremely limited. There will only be ten vehicles at first, and the riders will be invited by the company. This is an effort that puts safety at the forefront of this trial period, and will expand as time goes on.

It could be sooner than expected, as Musk also said that anyone would likely be able to visit Austin and take a ride in the Robotaxi by the end of June.

For the past several days, Tesla has been testing self-driving Model Y cars (no one in driver’s seat) on Austin public streets with no incidents.

A month ahead of schedule.

Next month, first self-delivery from factory to customer.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 29, 2025

The report and subsequent announcement come after many media outlets reported Tesla was not testing Robotaxi in any capacity. Some had even considered the project a total failure even before the June launch date, a typical tone most media take with the company.

Tesla Robotaxi deemed a total failure by media — even though it hasn’t been released

Tesla has not been great at meeting its own timelines, but it has been adamant that it would reach this June deadline for several months.

Now that it appears Tesla is at an all-systems-go mentality for the Robotaxi launch, it will be interesting to see how quickly it can expand from its initial testing.

Shares are up just over 1.3 percent as of 10:30 a.m. on the East Coast. They are up 24 percent over the past 30 days, and down just 4.5 percent for the year so far.

The Robotaxi fleet will help to bolster Tesla’s position as a leader in autonomy, something it has already essentially achieved through its successful operation of the Supervised Full Self-Driving suite.

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