Tesla is advancing its robotaxi rollout plans in Austin, with CEO Elon Musk revealing new details about the company’s evolving autonomous vehicle platform ahead of a potential launch as early as June 12.
The disclosures came shortly after a video surfaced on social media showing what appeared to be a fully driverless Tesla Model Y navigating streets in Austin. The footage, shared on X by user @TerrapinTerpene, captured the vehicle operating without a driver, followed by a manned chase car. On Monday, the city officially listed Tesla as an autonomous vehicle (AV) operator on its website, placing it in the “Testing” phase alongside peers such as Waymo and Zoox.
Musk has since commented on the sighting and Tesla’s preparations, stating that many existing Tesla vehicles already possess the necessary hardware to operate as robotaxis, though the Full Self-Driving (FSD) software is still undergoing refinement. “Current versions are robust, but not prepared for driverless navigation,” Musk said.
These are unmodified Tesla cars coming straight from the factory, meaning that every Tesla coming out of our factories is capable of unsupervised self-driving! https://t.co/n94ln0Uas6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 10, 2025
Tesla plans to leverage its over-the-air software infrastructure to update compatible vehicles in the future. Musk described this as a major advantage over competitors, noting that Tesla owners could see their vehicles converted to robotaxis through software updates once the FSD suite is ready for wider deployment.
According to Musk, the version of FSD running in the robotaxis spotted in Austin is a new build, which will soon “merge to main branch.” He also mentioned an experimental version under development that includes “four times the parameters” of the test version, though it “needs significant refinement before it is released to the public.”
Tesla has not confirmed an official launch date, but the company’s increased visibility in Austin and Musk’s updates suggest that its autonomous vehicle initiative is moving forward rapidly.
It’s a new version of software, but will merge to main branch soon.
We have a more advanced model in alpha stage that has ~4X the params, but still requires a lot of polishing.
That’s probably ready for deploy in a few months.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 10, 2025