Analysis

Robotaxi, October 2026: seven metros, a million unsupervised miles, two cities waiting

Tesla's ride service now runs in Texas, Florida and the Bay Area. Here is where it is truly driverless, where a monitor still rides along, and what's holding up Las Vegas and Phoenix.

By TeslaRecon Desk/October 5, 2026/2 min read

The 10-second read

Live in seven metros: Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, Tampa and the SF Bay Area.
Tesla says Robotaxi passed 1 million unsupervised miles (Sep 3, 2026).
The Bay Area still runs with safety drivers. California's CPUC says it is not an AV service.
Las Vegas is permitted for up to 5,000 vehicles but hasn't launched; Phoenix is still “preparing”.

Fifteen months after the first invite-only rides in Austin, Tesla's Robotaxi is a multi-state service. It is still uneven: some markets have no one in the front seats, and in others the "robotaxi" has a safety driver behind the wheel.

The scoreboard

Market	Since	Status
Austin, TX	Jun 22, 2025	Unsupervised rides since Jan 22, 2026; Cybercab rides since Sep 4
Dallas, TX	Apr 18, 2026	Live, ramping unsupervised
Houston, TX	Apr 18, 2026	Live, ramping unsupervised
Miami, FL	Jul 3, 2026	Live, unsupervised from the start
Orlando, FL	Jul 21, 2026	Live, ramping unsupervised
Tampa, FL	Jul 21, 2026	Live, ramping unsupervised
SF Bay Area, CA	Jul 2025	Safety driver; not an AV service
Las Vegas, NV	—	Permitted (≤5,000 vehicles), not launched
Phoenix, AZ	—	Permit since Nov 2025, "preparations underway"

Tesla's Q2 update said the service is "now live in seven major metros".

A million miles with no one in the seat

On September 3, AI chief Ashok Elluswamy said Robotaxi had passed 1 million unsupervised miles, up from about 380,000 at the July earnings call. That is still a small number next to the roughly 14 billion cumulative FSD (Supervised) miles across the consumer fleet. It is, though, the figure that tracks the business Tesla is trying to build.

Texas and Florida lead because the law lets them

Both states have frameworks that allow driverless commercial operation without a state-level permit process like California's. That's why the map leans southeast and south-central.

California is the outlier

In the Bay Area, Tesla runs rides under a charter-party (TCP) permit with human safety drivers. It holds a DMV permit for drivered testing only, with no driverless testing or deployment permit. In March, the CPUC put it plainly: "Tesla is not operating an autonomous vehicle service."

The waiting room: Las Vegas and Phoenix

Las Vegas: on August 20, the Nevada Transportation Authority unanimously approved Tesla for up to 5,000 vehicles in Clark County. Tesla's Cybercab chief engineer called that "a ceiling". As of October 9 the service hasn't launched. A public tracker notes the permit requires service to start within 120 days, around mid-December.
Phoenix: Tesla has held an Arizona TNC certification since November 2025, and its Q2 update said "preparations are underway". The original first-half-2026 target has passed.

The open questions

Fleet size. Tesla doesn't disclose it. Texas registrations tracked by third parties showed about 476 autonomous vehicles in late September, including 67 Cybercabs. Some community trackers have seen very small active fleets at certain times.
Hours. Austin closing time moved from 10 pm to 11 pm on October 5. Musk says night operations are limited by detecting small animals.
Regulators. NHTSA's audit of the Cybercab's certification is unresolved.

We update the Robotaxi tracker every time a market changes status.

Sources

TeslaRecon is an independent publication. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Tesla, Inc. Tesla, Model S/3/X/Y, Cybertruck, Optimus and FSD are trademarks of Tesla, Inc., used here only to identify the subject of our reporting.

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