Tesla has registered 42 autonomous robotaxis in Texas, according to registration information submitted to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles under new reporting rules. The figures provide the first official indication of the scale of Tesla’s robotaxi operations in the state. The fleet size is significantly below earlier projections made by Tesla CEO Elon Musk ahead of the launch of the service in 2025. At the time, Musk said the robotaxi operation could reach around 1,000 vehicles within a month of launch.

Tesla launched its Robotaxi service in Austin in June 2025 within a limited geofenced area. The first deployment used Model Y vehicles equipped with the company’s Full Self-Driving technology. Safety monitors initially occupied the front passenger seat, while chase vehicles accompanied the fleet.

According to InsideEVs, citing third-party tracking service Robotaxi Tracker, Tesla started unsupervised operations in Austin on 22 January 2026 with a single vehicle. The number of robotaxis operating without safety monitors later increased to eight in February and has now reportedly reached around 30 vehicles in Austin.

The remaining vehicles are believed to operate in Dallas and Houston, although the Texas DMV data does not specify deployment locations.
Tesla has not disclosed further operational details, including ride volumes, utilisation rates or rollout plans for additional cities.

Musk has repeatedly outlined ambitious expansion targets for Tesla’s autonomous mobility business. In addition to the earlier Texas projections, he recently stated that Tesla could have ‘hundreds of thousands, if not a million Teslas doing self-driving’ by the end of 2026.

The projection is expected to include privately owned Tesla vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving software. However, Musk has also acknowledged that older Tesla models with previous-generation hardware would not support unsupervised autonomous driving without major hardware upgrades.

According to Musk, Tesla may need to establish “micro factories” to retrofit older vehicles for Full Self-Driving capability. The company has not provided a timeline for such upgrades or confirmed whether large-scale retrofitting will be commercially viable.

insideevs.com