Tesla Robotaxi seen on streets of Austin

Tesla’s long-anticipated Robotaxi has reportedly made its first public appearance in Austin, Texas, with a vehicle captured on video navigating the road without a human driver behind the wheel.

The sighting comes as the Elon Musk-led company gears up for a potential launch of its autonomous taxi service.

According to a report from Bloomberg, the Robotaxi could be deployed in Austin this week, following initial test runs that began last month.

The latest video surfaced on the social media platform X, showing a Tesla Model Y making a turn in central Austin. The vehicle was notable for its graffiti-style “Robotaxi” label along the passenger-side door and a lack of visible driver.

The video was shared by Tesla’s head of autonomy and AI, Ashok Elluswamy, who commented: “Slowly slowly at first, then…”

HOLY CRAP ITS A #ROBOTAXI!!@SawyerMerritt @WholeMarsBlog @DirtyTesLa @niccruzpatane pic.twitter.com/slfAsu0AQl

— Terrapin Terpene Col (@TerrapinTerpene) June 10, 2025

In a recent interview with CNBC, Musk said the pilot service will begin with around 10 vehicles before scaling up. “It’s prudent for us to start with a small number, confirm that things are going well and then scale it up,” Musk told CNBC.

The initial fleet will comprise Model Y units equipped with an updated version of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) unsupervised software. The cars will be geofenced to operate only within a defined map of Austin and will be remotely monitored by Tesla staff.

“We’ll be watching what the cars are doing very carefully and as confidence grows, less of that will be needed,” Musk said.

The company plans to expand the Robotaxi rollout to Los Angeles and San Francisco once the Austin pilot proves successful.

However, the initiative is facing public pushback with some protest groups raising safety concerns about Tesla’s autonomous technology.  

Driverless rideshare vehicles are already operating in Austin, including Google’s Waymo, which has partnered with Uber and is available to users through the app.