Elon Musk says Tesla’s Robotaxi goes live this June: Here’s what we know about the launch
Elon Musk has said that Tesla’s self-driving taxi project is set to get going this month.
It hasn’t been a great time for self-driving cars—both Tesla’s share price and Waymo vehicles in L.A. have come under fire—but that hasn’t stopped Elon Musk.
The South African appears to have left his government role behind after just a few months, following a major online bust-up at the centre of a clash between the unelected head of DOGE and the President of the United States.
So, Musk has trundled back to focusing on Tesla in an effort to straighten the stock market picture frame on the wall, and his Robotaxi project is now expected to launch this month.
After six years of promises, Musk says the self-driving cars will roll out onto the streets of Austin, Texas, on 22 June.
@cnbc Tesla is poised to start its robotaxi pilot in Austin, Texas on June 22 — but automotive safety experts and anti-Elon Musk activists have concerns about the company’s approach. Tap the link on screen for more details.
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‘I don’t see anyone being able to compete with Tesla’
Despite the fact that Google’s Waymo already provides 250,000 paid rides a week in four U.S. cities—San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin—an ever-confident Elon Musk said back in April, “I don’t see anyone being able to compete with Tesla at present. But at least as far as I’m aware, Tesla will have, I don’t know, 99% market share or something ridiculous.”
Last month, Waymo announced that a total of 1,500 vehicles had logged more than 10 million paid rides, a significant increase from the 5 million recorded by the end of last year.
Despite Musk calling Waymo’s LiDAR system “frigging stupid,” it’s actually Tesla’s system that has drawn concern from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Tesla plans to use simple cameras instead of radar systems, with Musk reassuring potential customers that “we are being super paranoid about safety.”
But not everyone is happy. Political protesters upset with Musk’s dealings with the Trump administration gathered on Thursday—along with public safety advocates—to express their concerns about the Robotaxi launch in their city.
Tentatively, June 22.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 11, 2025
We are being super paranoid about safety, so the date could shift.
First Tesla that drives itself from factory end of line all the way to a customer house is June 28.
Critics ordered a Tesla and performed a series of tests, with their worrying demonstration highlighting the shortcomings of Robotaxi: a Tesla with Full Self-Driving engaged drove past a school bus with its stop sign extended and ran over a child-sized mannequin placed in front of the vehicle.
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