Los Angeles: Tesla signaled a more cautious approach to expanding its robotaxi service as executives acknowledged a slower-than-expected rollout, a notable shift from earlier predictions that autonomous taxis would rapidly spread across the United States.
During the company’s latest earnings call, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and senior executives defended the measured pace of expansion, pointing to safety requirements, city-specific regulations and operational challenges. The comments contrasted with Musk’s earlier forecast that Tesla’s robotaxi network would grow at a “hyper-exponential” rate and reach half of the US population by the end of 2025.
Since launching a pilot robotaxi service in Austin in June 2025, Tesla has expanded operations to only a handful of cities in Texas and Florida. The company said paying customers have travelled 2.5 million miles using the service, including about 380,000 miles without an in-vehicle safety monitor.
Despite the progress, Tesla remains behind Alphabet-owned Waymo in commercial autonomous driving. Waymo has logged more than 220 million autonomous miles through the end of March, highlighting its lead in large-scale driverless taxi operations. Analysts said investors had expected Tesla to scale more quickly because of its technology and manufacturing capabilities.
Tesla executives said expansion is being handled city by city to comply with local regulations and resolve operational issues before deploying larger fleets. Company officials said the strategy is intended to ensure safety while addressing software and operational challenges before accelerating growth.
Investors have placed significant expectations on Tesla’s robotaxi business and Optimus humanoid robots as future revenue drivers. However, the company’s shares have fallen nearly 17 per cent this year, and analysts continue to question the pace of deployment after Tesla expanded into fewer cities than previously projected and limited service to smaller areas outside major city centres.
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