As of October 19, 2026, Tesla Robotaxi gives rides in limited areas of six cities: Austin, Dallas and Houston in Texas, and Miami, Orlando and Tampa in Florida, according to Tesla’s Robotaxi support page. You don’t need to own a Tesla. You download the Robotaxi app on iOS or Android, sign in with a Tesla account, and request a ride inside the service area shown on the map. The fare appears in the app before you confirm.
The cars are Model Y vehicles and, in Austin only, the two-seat Cybercab. You can’t choose which one arrives.
How to book a ride
The steps below follow Tesla’s support page:
- Install the Robotaxi app and sign in with a Tesla account. Create the account first if you don’t have one; the app won’t create it for you.
- Enter a destination inside the service area. If the destination is outside it, you can’t book.
- Check the estimated fare and wait time, then confirm.
- Wait at the pickup point the app gives you. Check that the license plate matches the one in the app.
- Get in, fasten your seatbelt and tap “Start Ride” on the touchscreen or in the app.
The car waits seven minutes at pickup. If you aren’t there by then, the ride may be canceled. During the trip you can change the destination in the app, but you can’t add stops.
Operating hours vary by city, and the app won’t take requests outside them. If you’re in one of the six cities and the app shows no service, check whether you’re inside the map area and inside the hours before assuming something’s wrong.
What a ride costs
Tesla doesn’t publish a fare table. Its support page says rides are charged at an introductory rate plus taxes and fees, and that pricing can change. The only reliable number is the estimate the app shows before you confirm.
That makes Tesla harder to compare than Waymo, which publishes how its fares are built. Our Waymo cost guide explains Waymo’s fare structure if you want a reference point.
Will anyone be in the car?
It depends on the car, and Tesla doesn’t say in advance. Tesla started in Austin in June 2025 with an employee in the front passenger seat. On January 22, 2026, it began mixing some cars with no one from Tesla on board into the Austin fleet, and its AI lead said the share would grow over time (TechCrunch). When Dallas and Houston opened in April 2026, Tesla showed Model Y robotaxis there with no safety monitor (Teslarati).
Tesla doesn’t publish what fraction of rides in each city run with nobody on board. Either way, a remote support team can talk to you through the car’s speakers. That isn’t someone steering the car from afar; our explainer on remote assistance vs remote driving covers the difference.
Rider rules worth knowing before you go
From Tesla’s FAQ:
- Seating: riders can’t sit in the front-left seat, where a driver would normally sit.
- Children: in a Model Y, riders aged 8 to 17 must be with an adult, and children under 8 can’t ride. In a Cybercab the limits are 13 to 17 with an adult, and no one under 13.
- Booking for others: not allowed. You can book only for yourself, and you need the app on a phone.
- Pets: not allowed, except service animals for riders with disabilities.
- Wheelchairs: Robotaxi doesn’t have wheelchair-accessible vehicles yet. The app’s home screen links to each city’s WAV providers instead.
- Language: the app follows your phone’s language setting, and you can’t change it inside the app. Supported languages include Spanish, French, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and Chinese.
- Problems mid-ride: tap “Pull Over” to stop at the nearest safe spot, or “Support” to reach a person through the cabin speakers.
- Lost items: file a Lost Item Report from Ride History in the app. Tesla keeps found items for 10 days.
Why the Bay Area works differently
Tesla also runs rides in the San Francisco Bay Area, but that service isn’t on its Robotaxi support page and runs with a safety driver (Wikipedia summary of Tesla Robotaxi). It’s closer to a ride-hail service using Tesla’s driver-assistance software than to the driverless service in Texas and Florida. California requires separate permits for driverless passenger service, and Tesla’s support page doesn’t list California as a Robotaxi market.
If you want a driverless ride in San Francisco today, Waymo and Zoox are the options. Our guide to riding a Zoox robotaxi covers Zoox’s waitlist and cities.
Where it’s going next
Tesla has a sign-up form to be notified when Robotaxi reaches your area. Phoenix and Las Vegas have been named as future markets, but neither appears on Tesla’s support page as of October 19, 2026, so you can’t ride there yet.
The Cybercab is the part to watch. It started carrying riders in Austin on September 3, 2026, and federal regulators have asked Tesla to explain how a car with no steering wheel or pedals meets safety standards, with Tesla’s answer due October 30. Our Cybercab guide tracks that and whether you can buy one.