June 2025 is a historic date for Elon Musk, Tesla, and robotaxis: the service officially launched in Austin. Here’s how it works and all the upcoming milestones.
The future promised by Tesla has arrived. After years of anticipation, announcements, and postponements, the Tesla Robotaxi service officially launched on June 22, 2025, with the first paid rides in the city of Austin, Texas.
There’s no driver on board, although for now, a "safety monitor" is still provided for each vehicle, ready to intervene in case of problems. This debut marks a historic moment: never before has a major automaker launched a fully autonomous public transportation service.
The initial ride? Symbolically set at $4.20, a price chosen by Elon Musk in line with the brand’s "meme-centric" communication. But beneath this ironic price lies an ambitious and very serious project: to make autonomous driving part of everyday life, revolutionizing transportation, work, and urban mobility.
What is the Tesla robotaxi and how does it work
This first launch, however, is not taking place with the futuristic Cybercab—the shuttle without a steering wheel or pedals presented by Musk at the 2024 "We, Robot" event—but with modified Model Y, equipped with Tesla’s FSD (Full Self Driving) system, which relies solely on cameras and AI, without the use of LiDAR or radar sensors.
A divisive choice: on the one hand, Tesla is focusing on software evolution and continuous learning, but on the other, it is exposing itself to criticism, as demonstrated by recent viral videos in which some robotaxis exhibited erratic behavior. So much so that the NHTSA, the US highway safety agency, has already opened an official investigation.
Yet, user enthusiasm in Austin is palpable: the cars travel within a limited area of the city, operate 18 hours a day, and are collecting valuable data for future expansion.
Tesla robotaxis around the world? The planned milestones
The road to mass adoption is still long, but Tesla is ahead on many fronts. Unlike competitors like Waymo (by Alphabet), which uses expensive technology and pre-packaged maps, Musk’s company is aiming for cost-effective and global scalability, using mass-produced cars that can be updated remotely.
The goal? To put million robotaxis on the road by 2027, reducing costs per mile to 20 cents, a value unthinkable for traditional human transportation.
And it’s not just a corporate venture: Tesla predicts that, in the future, private owners of Tesla cars equipped with FSD will also be able to earn by renting their vehicles to the robotaxi network, up to $30,000 a year. The Cybercab, when it enters production in 2026, will be designed specifically for this: two seats, gull-wing doors, no manual controls. A shuttle built to move on its own.
Here are the key milestones of the expected timeline.
| Year | Scheduled Event |
|---|---|
| October 2024 | Cybercab (steering wheel-less) and Robovan (20 seats) concepts presented |
| June 2025 | Tesla robotaxi service officially launches in Austin with modified Model Ys |
| Late 2025 | Possible expansion to new US cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles |
| 2026 | Small-scale Cybercab production begins for testing and certification |
| 2027+ | Extensive deployment, removal of safety monitors, and active global robotaxi networks |
The current limitations of Tesla robotaxis
The outlook, however, remains complex. The service launches in Austin because Texas has lax laws, but the regulatory framework in the United States is fragmented, and Tesla will have to negotiate city by city, state by state. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the "cameras only" approach remains to be proven on a large scale, especially in difficult conditions (bad weather, poorly marked roads, chaotic traffic).
And the competition is fierce: Waymo has already completed over 10 million rides, and companies like Zoox, Baidu, and Cruise have invested years in developing robotaxis assisted by advanced sensors. Tesla, for its part, is focusing on massive data collection and the continuous improvement of its neural networks, with regular software updates. The real test will be the ability to scale rapidly while maintaining safety, reliability, and sustainable profit margins.
Stock Market Effects
Meanwhile, investor interest is skyrocketing. After the launch in Austin, Tesla stock gained more than 8% in just a few days, and analysts like Morgan Stanley see robotaxis as the heart of Tesla’s future business. However, more cautious voices—like Goldman Sachs—remind us that we are still in the early stages, and that the operational and regulatory challenges are enormous.
The "Tesla Robotaxi" brand now represents not just a technology, but a vision: that of a world where driving is a service, not a personal activity. A world where millions of autonomous vehicles travel continuously, without breaks or salaries, guided by artificial intelligence. If 2025 is the year of the dress rehearsal, 2026 and 2027 will be the true watershed between dream and reality.
Original article published on Money.it Italy. Original title: Robotaxi Tesla: cos’è, quanto costa e quando entrerà in produzione ovunque
