Tesla Robotaxi

Long-term owners

Tesla is on fire, took them 12 years to have few cars drive from point A to point B (not always safe but progress nonetheless)

Apr 2026 · comment

What hackers pick instead

• WaymoRecommended for crash data showing far fewer injuries than human drivers and for confident, predictable rides, though critics cite overly slow driving, blocked traffic and privacy worries.696recommend
• Waymo DriverPeople recommend it as the most successful driverless system, with public rides that work, though critics note remote human help and limited service areas.23recommend
• Tesla CybercabPeople recommend it as a much cheaper self-driving ride than Waymo, built as a two-seat vehicle. The most common caveat is that its self-driving safety and camera-only approach are unproven.21recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 383 comments. Each links to the original.

1. 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

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “All about automotive lidar”

2. 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.

   Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “Tesla's 4680 battery supply chain collapses as partner writes down deal by 99%”

3. Tesla are on their final stretch now and can basically manufacture the entire Waymo fleet in Robotaxis in a week.

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “All about automotive lidar”

4. I’ve been using their robotaxis for like half a year now and so can you when you’re in one of their cities.

   Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Robotaxi is now rolling out in Dallas and Houston”

5. Tesla started mass production of a dedicated, steering-wheel-free robotaxi five days ago.

   Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Only Elon Musk can fire Elon Musk from SpaceX, filing shows”

6. Teslas are really, really good at driving, and more naturally than Waymo at that

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “BYD's cheapest electric cars to have Lidar self-driving tech”

7. I took a Robotaxi ride in SF last week. It was cheaper than Uber and Waymo

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Tesla sales fell by 9 percent in 2025, its second yearly decline”

8. I ride their robotaxis daily and see them performing better than Waymo

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “All about automotive lidar”

9. the costs are much much less than Waymo will ever be able to achieve

   Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Beginning autonomous operations with the 6th-generation Waymo Driver”

10. Tesla is now launching robotaxis at a fraction of the cost of Waymos

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “I’ve joined Anthropic”

11. They work fine, in my limited but actual real world experience

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “A look under our trunk: what's in our compute”

12. twice cheaper than lyft, 4x cheaper than waymo and works fine

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Tesla takes on $30B in credit as it approaches unprofitability”

13. Tesla's self-driving on cameras, and it seems to work fine.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Gemini Robotics 2 brings whole body intelligence to robots”

14. Tesla also has integrated everything from the chip up.

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Beginning autonomous operations with the 6th-generation Waymo Driver”

15. Tesla makes their products with greater efficiency

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Tesla Shareholders Approve Elon Musk's $1T Pay Package”

16. robotaxis are currently only operating as robotaxis (unsupervised) in texas (and even that's dubious, considering the chase car sleight of hand)

    Criticizes · Feb 2026 · in “Tesla 'Robotaxi' adds 5 more crashes in Austin in a month – 4x worse than humans”

17. 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.

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Tesla ending Models S and X production”

18. I don't think actual unsupervised robotaxis exist, given the reports that they're just having the supervisor follow in a chase car

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Tesla unsupervised Robotaxis are nowhere to be found”

19. The cameras actually do not even meet minimum vision requirements required to hold a license in California and most other states.

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “Tesla Robotaxi had 3 more crashes, now 7 total”

20. A bunch of low speed crashes, one bus hit the Tesla while the Tesla was stationary, and one 17mph into static object (ouch).

    Criticizes · Feb 2026 · in “Tesla 'Robotaxi' adds 5 more crashes in Austin in a month – 4x worse than humans”

21. This really amounts to one single driver's lack of ability proving more dangerous than the worst humans allowed on the road.

    Criticizes · Feb 2026 · in “Tesla's 45 Austin Robotaxis now have 14 crashes on the books since June 2025”

22. Tesla’s “autonomous” vehicle, which is supposed to be the future of safety, is crashing 10x more often than a human driver.

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “Tesla reports another Robotaxi crash”

23. Even the much-publicized empty Tesla Robo taxis with no safety driver on board turned out to be followed by a "chase car."

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: People who tried both, how does Waymo compare to Tesla Robotaxi?”

24. Teslas are self driving cars with a handicap; they are missing some easily obtainable data because they lack the sensors

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “Tesla reports another Robotaxi crash”

25. Robotaxi is wildly off schedule and his timelines that he puts out for it have been non-stop over optimistic and wrong.

    Criticizes · May 2026 · in “Anthropic is expanding to Colossus2. Will use GB200”

26. Given that they have zero cars without a safety driver on public roads, I'd say they're a very long way from doing so

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Miami, Your Waymo Ride Is Ready”

27. it really seems like they're having huge trouble getting Robotaxi going in Austin given the very slow progress there

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Elon Musk pushes out more xAI founders as AI coding effort falters”

28. If Tesla's robotaxis develop a reputation for accidents, they'll create an unpredictable traffic bubble around them.

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “Tesla Robotaxi had 3 more crashes, now 7 total”

29. Tesla is on fire, took them 12 years to have few cars drive from point A to point B (not always safe but progress nonetheless)

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “Tesla tells HW3 owner to 'be patient' after 7 years of waiting for FSD”

30. Then it has rolled out the robotaxi tech slowly and cautiously, with human safety drivers, and only in two areas.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Tesla's Robotaxi data confirms crash rate 3x worse than humans even with monitor”

31. There are 300 of them with no steering wheel or pedals driving people around Austin right now

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Tesla Roadster”

32. If the Tesla self-driving is decent, the safety driver has the very difficult for a human job

    Mixed · Nov 2025 · in “My Tesla Robotaxi "safety" driver fell asleep”

33. navigated through the non-working traffic lights fine, treated it like a stop sign junction

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Waymo halts service during S.F. blackout after causing traffic jams”

34. Tesla seems well positioned to dominate supply side of the equation if the demand shows up.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “2026 Predictions Scorecard”

35. Given that fully driverless Model Ys and Cybercabs have been spotted going around Austin

    Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “2026 Predictions Scorecard”

36. Much better to be hit by a Waymo (or a Tesla Robotaxi) than the typical uninsured

    Mixed · Aug 2026 · in “Waymo – Dallas Open to All”

37. Tesla's solved almost all the hard problems of getting most of these on the road

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “Robots Eat Cars”

38. Cars are driving passengers around Austin now with nobody in either front seat.

    Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “Tesla ending Models S and X production”

39. Tesla is being the responsible party here by having a real human in the car.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Tesla reports another Robotaxi crash”

40. Tesla should be more forthcoming with the full narrative of these incidents

    Mixed · Feb 2026 · in “Tesla 'Robotaxi' adds 5 more crashes in Austin in a month – 4x worse than humans”