Tesla Deploys Robotaxis In Texas As China's Hellobike, Ant Group & CATL Unite

Recently, we reported that lawmakers in Texas were requesting Tesla to reconsider the launch date for its robotaxis—which was set for June 22—and wait till September for the new autonomous-driving laws that are scheduled to come into effect.

This fit in well with CEO Elon Musk’s words, saying that the launch date was tentative and could shift as the company was “being super paranoid about safety.”

However, June 22 has come and gone, and Tesla didn’t delay this time around.

The company finally deployed robotaxis on the streets of Austin, Texas, which is also home to its headquarters.

Although, for now, these autonomous vehicles (AVs) are not available to the public. Instead, Tesla opted to deploy about 10 Model Y SUV robotaxis, which were available to a select few social media influencers and content creators and serving as a limited test of its self-driving taxis.

Tesla’s Cybercabs are expected to hit the road soon, as per the company’s Robotaxi page on its website.


On Sunday, Musk posted on X, “The @Tesla_AI robotaxi launch begins in Austin this afternoon with customers paying a $4.20 flat fee!”

According to invites sent out before the launch, the robotaxis were expected to come with a Tesla employee in the front passenger seat. Sightings of Tesla’s robotaxi noted no one was seated in the driver’s seat, but did have one person in the passenger seat who was acting as a “safety monitor.”

This marked the first time Tesla vehicles have driven paying customers without human drivers.


So far, the reviews of Tesla’s robotaxis have been positive, leading Musk to post, “Super congratulations to the @Tesla_AI software & chip design teams on a successful @Robotaxi launch!! Culmination of a decade of hard work. Both the AI chip and software teams were built from scratch within Tesla.”

X users even posted experiences of their rides—@SawyerMerritt said, “It was smooth, comfortable and just as good as it is during the daytime.” This was reiterated by @BLKMDL3 (Zack), who said, “Tesla Robotaxi performance at night is as great as it is during the day.”

Check out full reviews and videos by X users Sawyer Merritt, DJ Seo, Teslarati, Teslaconomics, Zack, Dave Lee, Rob Maurer (who also shared the Tesla Robotaxi app experience), and others.


To make it easier for users to find the vehicle when it arrives, the exterior lights pulse. This is also mentioned in the app when a user books a ride, which was noticed by Dave Lee on his second ride.

Zack, who completed eleven rides on launch day, also tried leaving a tip for the robotaxi, but was greeted by a screen that sported a stylish hedgehog and simply read “Just kidding.” Musk replied to this post saying, “Had to been done lol.”


Tesla’s move comes amid competition from established brands such as Waymo and newcomer Zoox (from Amazon) in the robotaxi sector, as well as slowing sales of its electric vehicles (EVs) courtesy of Chinese automaker BYD, which is also playing a key role in the robotaxi market.

However, China is no stranger to robotaxis as it houses a wide range of automakers engaged in the sector—and is ready to add one more to the list.

Hellobike, a ride-sharing platform, is partnering with CATL, an EV battery manufacturer, and Ant Group, an affiliate company of Alibaba Group and owner of the world's largest mobile payment platform—Alipay—to set up a new robotaxi firm.

The three companies, all of which hail from China, have jointly invested more than 3 billion yuan ($417.3 million) as initial investment to form “Shanghai Zaofu Intelligent Technology.”

The new company, which is registered in Shanghai, will focus on Level 4 autonomous driving R&D, safe applications, and commercialization.

The move builds on a previous partnership between the three companies in 2020, which included the incorporation of a new joint venture (JV) aimed at launching two-wheel battery-swap services to build a smart travel ecosystem and came with an initial investment of 1 billion yuan ($139.1 million).

Do you think the new player from China will challenge Tesla’s newly launched robotaxi service, or will Tesla manage to outshine existing competitors in the market?

Let us know in the comments below!