Tesla removes the safety monitor from some Austin robotaxis, but videos show a chase car following

Previously

Tesla began invite-only rides in Austin in June 2025 with an employee in the passenger seat (Part 1). In July, it opened a Bay Area service with drivers behind the wheel, because it lacked California autonomy permits (Part 2).

AUSTIN, January 2026 — Tesla has started giving some Austin robotaxi rides with no one from Tesla inside the car. Here's what changed since Part 2 (July 2025), what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of January 2026)

Unsupervised cars: "a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors," per Tesla AI lead Ashok Elluswamy. (TechCrunch)
Fleet: never more than about 25 to 30 cars "by most fans' counts" as of December. (TechCrunch)
Crashes: at least seven since June, as of Dec. 15. (TechCrunch)
Miles: roughly 250,000, a figure Tesla confirmed in November, per Electrek. (Electrek)
Fares: Tesla is charging, according to a rider's post cited by TechCrunch. (TechCrunch)

From empty test cars to paid rides

On Dec. 14, 2025, Musk confirmed that Tesla was testing robotaxis in Austin "with no occupants," TechCrunch reported. Tesla's X account posted: "Slowly, then all at once." By then Tesla had dropped its wait list and expanded the service area to cover a large part of the Austin metro area.

On Jan. 22, 2026, Musk posted: "Just started Tesla Robotaxi drives in Austin with no safety monitor in the car. Congrats to the Tesla AI team!" Elluswamy said Tesla would start "with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors, and the ratio will increase over time."

Tesla's share price rose about 4%, electrive reported. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Musk said: "Tesla's rolled out robotaxi service in a few cities, and will be very, very widespread by the end of this year within the US."

The chase car

Within hours, a second video circulated showing a safety monitor in another Tesla following the driverless car, electrive reported. TechCrunch also noted that a chase car "appears to" be following the driverless vehicles. Electrive's reading: the monitor is no longer inside the car, but can still intervene through a form of remote control. Tesla hasn't explained the chase car.

That matters for how the step is described. Musk's post said there was no safety monitor "in the car," which is accurate. It doesn't mean the cars are operating without human supervision. Electrive noted that Waymo, by contrast, runs fully driverless service in several cities and had just opened rides to the public in Miami, its sixth city.

The safety record so far

Tesla's small test fleet has been involved in at least seven crashes since June, TechCrunch reported in December, and few details are known. Tesla redacts the narrative sections of its crash reports to NHTSA, Electrek reported, citing a filing for an October crash (report ID 13781-11986). Using Tesla's roughly 250,000-mile figure and seven crashes, Electrek calculated that the fleet was crashing about 10 times as often as a human driver. That is Electrek's analysis, and Tesla hasn't published a crash rate.

What's changed

Since July, the service has moved from a passenger-seat monitor to no one inside for some cars, and from an invite list to a wider Austin service area. The coverage promise hasn't been met: in July, Musk said the service would reach "half of the population of the U.S." by the end of 2025.

What went wrong

Supervision moved, not removed. Videos show a chase car following driverless rides.
Crash details are hidden. Tesla redacts its NHTSA crash narratives.
The fleet stayed small. About 25 to 30 cars by fans' counts, against a nationwide target.
What we don't know yet: how many cars run unsupervised, what the chase car's driver can do, and how many miles the fleet has driven since November.

Our follow-up question for Tesla

What is the role of the chase car, and how many Austin robotaxis are operating with no safety monitor in or behind them?

Sources

Sean O'Kane, TechCrunch, “Tesla starts testing robotaxis in Austin with no safety driver,” Dec. 15, 2025. techcrunch.com
Electrek, “Tesla reports another Robotaxi crash, even with supervisor as it moves to remove them,” Dec. 15, 2025. electrek.co
Rebecca Bellan, TechCrunch, “Tesla launches robotaxi rides in Austin with no human safety driver,” Jan. 22, 2026. techcrunch.com
electrive, “Tesla tricks with robotaxi safety driver, Waymo launches in Miami,” Jan. 23, 2026. electrive.com
Earlier in this series: Part 1. /case/tesla-robotaxi-austin
Earlier in this series: Part 2. /case/tesla-robotaxi-bay-area

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