Robotáxis, autonomous taxis offered as a public transport service Teslawould be driving the streets of Austin, Texas, without safety monitors in the driver’s seat.
While this information is technically correct, it appears that the company simply moved the safety monitors to another car that follows the first one.
“I just started operations at the Tesla Robotaxi in Austin without any safety monitor in the car,” he wrote Elon Musk on your X profile (formerly Twitter).
Meanwhile, the official account of Tesla no X went even further, describing the experience as “completely unsupervised.”
I am in a robotaxi without safety monitor pic.twitter.com/fzHu385oIb
— TSLA99T (@Tsla99T) January 22, 2026
This “unsupervised” Robotaxi was shown by the content creator Joe Tegtmeyerin a video that was reposted by Musk and Tesla on social media.
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In the clip, you can see a Tesla Model Y black following the Robotáxi. “You will also notice that behind the Model Y there is a support car. I think they’re using it for validation,” Tegtmeyer said.
Not Musk not the Tesla They explained what the second car is for, but it is safe to say that it is serving as a kind of “monitoring” in case something goes wrong during the race, which somewhat removes the brand’s suggestion that the Robotáxi is “completely unsupervised”.
Of course, it could be that the Tesla is using the second car only for testing and that Robotáxi could soon become a fully autonomous service. But at the current stage, this does not yet appear to be the case.
My first unsupervised @robotaxi ride here in Austin! Come along with me on this 1st experience of driving around Austin with just me in the car and in the back seat!
Congrats to the @Tesla_AI team! 🤠👍 pic.twitter.com/YVJ19zp2qZ
— Joe Tegtmeyer 🚀 🤠🛸😎 (@JoeTegtmeyer) January 22, 2026
Photo and video: Tesla / X @Tsla99T / @JoeTegtmeyer. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
