Tesla is taking active steps toward realizing its autonomous vehicle ambitions, and Austin, Texas, is emerging as a key contender for testing the company’s robotaxi technology.
According to emails obtained by Bloomberg, Tesla has been in talks with Austin officials since May 2024, aiming to establish safety guidelines and train first responders on how to interact with its autonomous vehicles.
At Tesla’s We, Robot event in October, the company unveiled the Cybercab, a prototype autonomous vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals. At the event, CEO Elon Musk announced plans to deploy FSD Unsupervised in California and Texas by next year in Model 3 and Model Y, ahead of the Cybercabs production, slated for 2026 or 2027.
Those emails, which were obtained through public records requests, reveal Tesla’s proactive engagement with Austin’s autonomous vehicle task force. The task force, established in 2023, works with companies to develop safety protocols, gather incident data, and training first responders. Tesla had inquired with the city about safety expectations and a December 5 event to train first responders on its autonomous vehicle technology.
Although Tesla has not yet begun public road testing in Austin, the company is conducting extensive tests with the Cybercab on the private roads on the grounds of Giga Texas.
Texas offers a relatively relaxed regulatory environment for autonomous vehicles. Unlike many states, Texas prohibits cities from imposing additional regulations on driverless cars, requiring only basic compliance with traffic laws and insurance requirements. This makes the Lone Star State an attractive testing ground for Tesla’s technology.
