Nearly a year after launch, Tesla’s self-driving taxi service remains limited to just 59 vehicles across three Texas cities, raising fresh questions about Elon Musk’s ambitious autonomy targets.

Nearly a year after Tesla put its first robotaxis on the road, the service remains far smaller and less reliable than the company originally projected. As of late May 2026, Texas motor-vehicle filings and independent tracking data showed a fleet of roughly 59 robotaxis, operating only in Austin, Dallas, and Houston.

That is far from the vision outlined by Elon Musk, who has repeatedly described a future in which Tesla operates thousands of autonomous vehicles across the United States. Musk previously indicated the company could reach 1,000 robotaxis by the end of 2026, a target that now appears increasingly difficult.

The gap between promise and reality became more visible this week as riders and reviewers documented operational issues that suggest the service is still functioning more like a public test program than a mature transportation network.

Users reported wait times frequently exceeding 30 minutes, while the Tesla Robotaxi app periodically displayed messages such as “High Service Demand” and “No Rides Available.” In at least one reported case, a vehicle arrived but failed to begin the trip, requiring intervention from customer support.

Passengers have also cited inconvenient pickup and drop-off locations, sometimes forcing riders to walk significant distances despite available curb space nearby.

Tesla launched the service in Austin in June 2025 with approximately a dozen modified Model Y vehicles. Access was initially restricted to selected users, influencers and Tesla enthusiasts who shared favorable early experiences online.

During Tesla’s July 2025 earnings call, Musk outlined plans for rapid expansion into additional states, including California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida. While Tesla expanded into Dallas and Houston in April 2026, the broader national rollout has yet to materialize.

The vehicles themselves remain more limited than many consumers expected.

Most rides continue to include a human safety operator, and Tesla restricts operations to carefully defined geographic areas known as geofences. The service therefore remains well short of Musk’s long-standing vision of fully autonomous vehicles operating nationwide without human supervision.

The stakes for Tesla are significant.

As vehicle sales growth has slowed, investors increasingly view robotaxis and Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology as key drivers of the company’s future value. Expectations surrounding autonomous transportation have become a central component of Tesla’s market valuation.

The numbers highlight the challenge ahead.

With approximately 59 vehicles currently operating, Tesla would need to expand its fleet by roughly 17 times in just seven months to reach Musk’s stated goal of 1,000 robotaxis by year-end. That expansion would also require regulatory approvals, operational infrastructure and proof that the vehicles can safely operate with reduced human oversight.

Meanwhile, competitors have established a substantial lead.

Waymo, the autonomous-driving division of Alphabet, operates a significantly larger robotaxi network. Estimates suggest Waymo’s Texas fleet is roughly ten times larger than Tesla’s. In Austin alone, public reports indicate Waymo operates more than 250 vehicles, compared with approximately 50 for Tesla.

Waymo also routinely operates vehicles without safety drivers, a milestone Tesla has not yet achieved at comparable scale.

Wall Street analysts have taken notice.

Garrett Nelson, an analyst with CFRA Research, recently said Tesla’s Austin deployment has fallen short of expectations. Independent road tests in Dallas and Houston have reported similar concerns, including lengthy wait times, unavailable vehicles and routing issues.

In one Dallas test, a trip expected to take roughly 20 minutes reportedly stretched to nearly two hours because of service interruptions and availability problems.

For consumers, the current limitations are difficult to ignore.

A service marketed as convenient, on-demand transportation remains available only in limited areas and often struggles to deliver rides quickly and consistently. Until reliability improves and availability expands, robotaxis are unlikely to replace traditional ride-hailing services—or personal vehicles—for most riders.

Tesla maintains that its camera-based approach to autonomous driving will ultimately allow it to scale more quickly and at lower cost than competitors that rely on expensive lidar and sensor systems.

That strategy could still prove successful over time.

For now, however, the company’s Texas deployment highlights the considerable distance between Tesla’s long-term vision and the current state of its robotaxi service. Nearly a year after launch, the business remains small, geographically limited and operationally inconsistent.

Whether Tesla can close that gap before the end of the year remains one of the most closely watched questions in the autonomous-vehicle industry.

JBizNews Desk — Texas

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