An X user recorded a Tesla Model Y driving through Austin’s streets on Sunday that appears to show no one, not even a safety monitor, inside.
Since Tesla launched its robotaxi in Austin in June, the driverless cars have always included a human in the passenger seat.
The video generated a fair amount of excitement online from Tesla watchers, some of whom immediately went to their app to order a robotaxi to see whether it would include a safety monitor (they did).
Tesla CEO Elon Musk later said on Sunday that the company is now testing driverless taxis without human safety operators, though it appears not yet on actual paying customers.
“Testing is underway with no occupants in the car,” Musk wrote in response to the X user who posted the original video.
Tesla itself responded to the video with “Just saying.”
Tesla’s AI chief, Ashok Elluswamy, also responded. “And so it begins!” he wrote on X on Sunday.
According to Robotaxi Tracker — run by Austin-based robotaxi watcher Ethan McKenna — there are 31 active vehicles in Austin, up from 29 in November. Speaking on the “All-In” podcast in October, Musk said that Tesla was aiming to increase its robotaxi fleet to 500 cars in Austin by the end of the year.
Musk said in a video call at an xAI “hackathon” event last week that Tesla would remove human safety monitors from its robotaxi cars by the end of the year, according to Teslarati, a news site focused on Musk-run companies.
“There will be Tesla robotaxis operating in Austin with no one in them, not even anyone in the passenger seat, in about three weeks,” Musk said, the outlet reported.
When Business Insider tested a robotaxi in Austin in July, it required multiple interventions from the safety monitor in the passenger seat, including at one point when the car went the wrong way on a one-way street.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
