# Tesla Robotaxi 41 Hacker News commenters recommended Tesla Robotaxi and 219 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months. **Verdict:** People praise its smooth, natural driving and low fares compared with Waymo and Uber, and say rides work fine. Critics say crash rates and unclear human supervision remain unresolved. ## Why people recommend it - Smooth, natural driving (4 comments): "Smoother maneuvers, or things like seamlessly backing up a bit when it predicts that a large vehicle turning from an intersecting street won't have enough room" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46128841)) "Teslas feel smoother and less robotic, but of course if they felt safety was where it needs to be, they'd be driverless by now." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46430256)) "Teslas are really, really good at driving, and more naturally than Waymo at that" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46585177)) - Cheaper than Uber, Lyft, Waymo (4 comments): "I took a Robotaxi ride in SF last week. It was cheaper than Uber and Waymo" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46471140)) "the costs are much much less than Waymo will ever be able to achieve" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47001464)) "Tesla is now launching robotaxis at a fraction of the cost of Waymos" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48195996)) - Manufacturing and chip integration (4 comments): "Tesla are on their final stretch now and can basically manufacture the entire Waymo fleet in Robotaxis in a week." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46141317)) "Tesla started mass production of a dedicated, steering-wheel-free robotaxi five days ago." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47950180)) "Tesla also has integrated everything from the chip up." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47004159)) - Works fine in real use (3 comments): "I’ve been using their robotaxis for like half a year now and so can you when you’re in one of their cities." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47821414)) "They work fine, in my limited but actual real world experience" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49403073)) "Tesla's self-driving on cameras, and it seems to work fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49120219)) ## What people warn about - Crashes worse than human drivers (4 comments): "A bunch of low speed crashes, one bus hit the Tesla while the Tesla was stationary, and one 17mph into static object (ouch)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47052307)) "This really amounts to one single driver's lack of ability proving more dangerous than the worst humans allowed on the road." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47055338)) "Tesla’s “autonomous” vehicle, which is supposed to be the future of safety, is crashing 10x more often than a human driver." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46297921)) - Unclear unsupervised operation, chase cars (4 comments): "robotaxis are currently only operating as robotaxis (unsupervised) in texas (and even that's dubious, considering the chase car sleight of hand)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47054452)) "I don't think actual unsupervised robotaxis exist, given the reports that they're just having the supervisor follow in a chase car" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46749785)) "Even the much-publicized empty Tesla Robo taxis with no safety driver on board turned out to be followed by a "chase car."" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46402968)) - Slow, overpromised rollout (3 comments): "Musk made the announcement before earnings, put a few cars on the road, and now has pulled them all back because the earnings report is out." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46812273)) "Robotaxi is wildly off schedule and his timelines that he puts out for it have been non-stop over optimistic and wrong." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48231970)) "it really seems like they're having huge trouble getting Robotaxi going in Austin given the very slow progress there" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47370949)) - Cameras and sensors lack capability (2 comments): "The cameras actually do not even meet minimum vision requirements required to hold a license in California and most other states." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45992357)) "Teslas are self driving cars with a handicap; they are missing some easily obtainable data because they lack the sensors" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46308417)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Waymo](https://hackerapproved.com/p/waymo.md): 696 recommend - [Waymo Driver](https://hackerapproved.com/p/waymo-driver.md): 23 recommend - [Tesla Cybercab](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tesla-cybercab.md): 21 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Tesla Robotaxi", https://hackerapproved.com/p/tesla-robotaxi/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).