Tesla announced on April 18 that it is rolling out self-driving taxis in Dallas and Houston, expanding its robotaxi service to three cities in Texas after launching in Austin last year, according to Reuters. CEO Elon Musk posted on X that Tesla Robotaxi is rolling out in the two cities as the company begins early deployments. Tesla started offering rides without safety drivers in Austin in January 2026.
Service Rollout and Regulatory Framework
The Dallas and Houston service operates under a statewide transportation network company (TNC) permit, the same license used by Uber and Lyft. This permit allows both supervised and unsupervised robotaxi service.
Tesla appears to be using a similar small rollout approach in Dallas and Houston as it employed in Austin, where service began with 10 to 12 vehicles plus human safety monitors in the passenger seat. In Austin, Tesla’s furthest-along robotaxi market, the “unsupervised” fleet has only four to eight vehicles and remains watched remotely, with most local vehicles still relying on in-car safety monitors.
Competitive Positioning and Safety Comparison
The Dallas and Houston launches put Tesla in closer competition with Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving taxi unit. Waymo provides 500,000 paid rides a week across 10 U.S. cities. Waymo reports its serious injury crash rate is 90% lower than human drivers. Available Austin data put Tesla’s crash rate at approximately nine times worse than human drivers, indicating a significant safety gap.
Regulatory and Safety Challenges
Early Austin tests encountered phantom braking—when a car slows with no clear cause—plus traffic violations. Those incidents drew federal regulatory scrutiny. Public testing also carries legal and regulatory risk; after the Austin launch, a proposed shareholder class action alleged that Tesla and Musk overstated the technology’s readiness while hiding safety risks.
Market Implications
These launches carry significant weight for Tesla’s valuation, as much of the company’s market worth rests on investor hopes for autonomous driving capabilities. This matters increasingly as electric vehicle sales slow.
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