Tesla plans to expand Robotaxi service to Bay Area

Tesla is looking to expand its Robotaxi service, and we’re not just talking in Texas.

On Thursday, CEO Elon Musk said on X that the company plans to expand to “a larger service area in Austin this weekend.”

Tesla’s Robotaxi service launched last month in a geofenced area in South Austin, with a reported 10-20 Model Y cars, and it was only open to a small number of people. Musk didn’t say whether the expansion also means introducing more cars to the mix.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

However, the company seems eager to expand the service to other areas, too. Replying to a comment on X, Musk said that Robotaxi is coming to the Bay Area “probably in a month or two,” following regulatory approvals.

The approvals shouldn’t be too big of an issue given that Alphabet’s Waymo (and, formerly, GM’s Cruise) has been operating a self-driving taxi service for years in San Francisco and some of the nearby cities in the Bay Area.

Tesla’s Robotaxi launch kicked off in June with multiple users praising how smooth the rides are, especially given that Tesla uses its regular Model Y cars for the service, as opposed to heavily modified cars used by Waymo and other self-driving taxi companies.

There were, however, many recorded instances of Tesla’s robotaxis making odd errors, sudden stops, and apparent traffic violations.

The news comes shortly after Musk confirmed that his controversial Grok AI is coming to Tesla vehicles. The company also just announced its annual shareholders meeting will be held in November, a lot later than usual.