Tesla begins driverless robotaxi tests in Austin

Tesla is now testing robotaxis in Austin, Texas, without a safety driver onboard, marking a new phase in its autonomous vehicle trials.

The company began limited robotaxi testing in Austin in June 2025, initially with employees monitoring from inside the vehicles.

Videos of empty Tesla Model Y vehicles in operation surfaced on social media over the weekend, and CEO Elon Musk confirmed the company is running tests with no occupants.

Tesla has not disclosed when it will allow customers to ride without a safety driver, or how quickly it will expand the program.

The company’s test vehicles in Austin have reportedly been involved in at least seven crashes since June, although specific details have not been released.

🔗 Source: TechCrunch

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Tesla crash rate with safety monitors raises questions about driverless readiness

Robotaxi fleet crashes about once every 40,000 miles with safety monitors on board 1. The average US driver crashes once every 500,000 miles 1, so Tesla’s rate is roughly 10 times higher.
Crashes happened even with trained human supervisors who are meant to step in 1. That raises doubts about dropping them while the system still needs oversight.
Tesla redacts most crash narratives it files with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 1, which makes it hard to know what went wrong. Waymo (Alphabet’s self-driving unit) has published safety data for over 100 million miles 1.

Texas Autonomous Vehicle (AV) rules open the door for new insurance products

Texas law requires Level 4-5 autonomous vehicles (systems that can drive without a human in defined or all conditions) to carry liability insurance 2. Commercial service brings new risks that many auto policies do not cover well 2.
Insurers can design products for AV-specific exposures 2. That includes software liability, cybersecurity hits that affect vehicle control 2, plus cases where makers rather than drivers hold the blame 2.
Risk analytics firms can use Texas’s mandatory AV recording devices (event data recorders that log driving and sensor information) 2. They can also tap NHTSA collision data 3 to build actuarial models (statistical risk models used to price insurance) for autonomous fleet underwriting. Adoption could speed up if Tesla starts Robotaxi service in five cities in 2026 4.