Tesla's robotaxis are moving in reverse
2 hours ago
- Tesla's Robotaxi network saw a 36% decline in paid miles driven in Q2 2026 compared to Q1, despite expanding to six cities in Texas and Florida.
- The company acknowledged that it needs to accumulate driving data from the Cybercab before scaling, contrasting with prior claims that its fleet of customer cars was collecting data for robotaxi training.
- Tesla executives cited safety concerns and the risk of regulatory crackdown from media coverage of accidents as reasons for cautious scaling, while claiming zero notable incidents in over 380,000 unsupervised miles, though 22 crashes have been reported to NHTSA.
- Tesla reiterated its belief that a camera-only autonomous system (without radar or lidar) is sufficient, contradicting industry experts, and promised rapid growth with unsupervised miles increasing roughly 10% weekly since late 2025.