May 18, 2026
The Tesla robotaxi rollout may not be all that Elon Musk has predicted when it comes to these driverless rides taking over the nation.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) revealed last month that Tesla’s robotaxi service would be expanding in Texas, with Dallas and Houston added to its roster, which had included only Austin before that. And on an earnings call last summer, Musk claimed Tesla's robotaxi fleet would soon be serving more than 150 million Americans. "I think we will probably have autonomous ride-hailing in probably half the population of the U.S. by the end of the year," Musk said (1).
Advertisement
But a report from Reuters surveying the service in Dallas, Houston and Austin found long wait times, canceled rides, limited availability and problems with drop-offs (2).
Tesla's robotaxi service began operating in Austin in June 2025, although the vehicles still had human "safety monitors" riding inside (3). It wasn't until January of this year that some of the robotaxis began operating without human safety monitors riding along (4).
A 5-mile ride taking nearly two hours
A Reuters reporter attempted to hail a ride in Dallas using the Tesla Robotaxi app to take a trip that would usually take about 20 minutes — from Southern Methodist University to Dallas City Hall, a 5-mile trip on a major highway. But instead the trip took almost two hours. That included half an hour of trying to book a ride but getting "high service demand" and "no rides available nearby" messages, and once a ride became available, experiencing another 19-minute wait.
Once the robotaxi picked up the reporter, instead of taking the highway, it "took nearly 35 minutes to travel on surface streets," the report says. Then the reporter was dropped off in a parking lot that was a 15-minute walk from the destination.
The reporter pushed a "support" button inside the car, and was told by a service agent that the area was "restricted," even though it was inside a service-area map that was posted on social media by Tesla.
"We're still in the beta version," the agent said, according to the Reuters report.
Must Read
- Dave Ramsey warns nearly 50% of Americans are making 1 big Social Security mistake — are you doing the same?
- Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 — and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here's how
- Robert Kiyosaki says this 1 asset will surge 400% in a year and begs investors not to miss this ‘explosion’
Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise’s best stories and exclusive interviews first — clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.
Calling an Uber instead
Another Reuters reporter who tested the service in Houston, where the robotaxis operate in a small suburban area, successfully hailed a ride on a weeknight, but when she tried to hail a second ride, "the same car showed up as being 13 minutes away, but the app later canceled the ride," the report says. After trying for another 30 minutes to hail a Tesla robotaxi, the reporter instead called an Uber.
A Reuters reporter who spent three weeks last month tracking Tesla robotaxi wait times in Austin, where the service has been operating the longest, found that wait times were more than 15 minutes about 50% of the time, and at least 25 minutes more than 25% of the time; 27% of the time, there were no cars available.
Advertisement
To be fair, the Tesla fleets aren't large: There are about 50 Tesla robotaxis operating in Austin, Reuters says, compared with more than 250 Waymo vehicles.
While there have been no major Tesla crashes, Austin Police Lieutenant William White told Reuters, 15 relatively minor crashes in Austin have been reported to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is required for even minor incidents for autonomous-vehicle operators, Reuters says.
On an April 22 earnings call, when asked about robotaxi expansion beyond Austin, Musk said he hoped to be operating in "a dozen or so states by the end of this year" (5). Much of Tesla's approximately $1.6 trillion valuation (6) is tied to expectations of an expansion, Reuters notes.
"We haven't had any injuries and certainly no fatalities to date with the unsupervised [Full Self-Driving] and Robotaxi expansion. We want to keep it that way. I think probably unsupervised FSD or Robotaxi revenue will not be super material this year, but I do think it'll be material probably in a significant way next year," Musk said.
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
Motley Fool (1); Reuters (2),(3); InsideEVs (4); Yahoo Finance (5); Companies Market Cap (6)
You May Also Like
- Turning 50 with $0 saved for retirement? Most people don’t realize they’re actually just entering their prime earning decade. Here are 6 ways to catch up fast
- Inside a $1B real estate fund offering access to thousands of income-producing rental properties — with flexible minimums starting at $10
- Vanguard’s outlook on U.S. stocks is raising alarm bells for retirees. Here’s why and how to protect yourself
- Here are 5 easy ways to own multiple properties like Bezos and Beyoncé. You can start with $10 (and no, you don’t have to manage a single thing)
Rebecca Payne has more than a decade of experience editing and producing both local and national daily newspapers. She's worked on the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, Metro, Canada's National Observer, the Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press.
