Tesla’s Robotaxi Could Self-Drive Your Faith in Autonomous Cars Right Off a Cliff

It’s been a long time coming for Tesla’s robotaxi, but it looks like the company’s first truly driverless vehicle may be ready for a road test. According to Bloomberg, Tesla is set to reveal its robotaxi as soon as June 12, which—if you have a calendar and/or a cursory concept of time and space—you may note is pretty damn soon. While that reveal may be around the corner, the journey for Tesla’s robotaxi to become a real thing you can plant your butt in has been long and winding. Elon Musk—and this is true—first mentioned the idea of Tesla-made robotaxis in *drumroll, please* 2016. That’s right, it’s been nearly a decade since Musk put self-driving taxis on our radar. Feel old yet? I sure do.

BREAKING: Tesla launching robotaxi service in Austin on June 12th pic.twitter.com/ifV18fTSFv

— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) May 28, 2025

While it’s impossible to say whether June 12 will for sure be the big reveal, there is at least some evidence to support that the alleged robotaxi reveal is upon us. Some people have already reported seeing Tesla robotaxis being tested on the streets of Austin, Texas, where the driverless car is supposed to be unveiled. Musk has also taken to X, his favorite platform for saying dubious stuff, to confirm that big things are underway in Austin and that the company has been testing self-driving Model Ys, which are allegedly “a month ahead of schedule.”

For the past several days, Tesla has been testing self-driving Model Y cars (no one in driver’s seat) on Austin public streets with no incidents.

A month ahead of schedule.

Next month, first self-delivery from factory to customer.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 29, 2025

So, maybe this is the moment for Tesla robotaxis. I’m leaving space for Musk to actually deliver this time. It’s hard to say for sure, but we’ll only have to wait about two weeks to find out. One thing is for damn sure, though: whenever the moment comes, it will be just that—a moment, and a big one at that. If Tesla thinks its Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta is really ready for the big leagues, then Tesla’s robotaxi will be the real test.

I personally have my doubts that FSD can deliver. Tesla’s beta, while functional in a lot of ways, has also been linked to quite a few controversies, including two fatal accidents, and Autopilot, its driver-assist software, has been linked to hundreds of non-fatal accidents over the past five years. That being said, I’m open to the possibility that FSD has dramatically improved over time. Tesla has pushed its software out to more and more people, which means it’s collecting more and more data that could further train and refine the software. While Tesla’s robotaxi test will likely be small at first, the stakes are still much higher since there won’t be anyone at the wheel—or at least technically. According to one Morgan Stanley analyst who allegedly saw a preview of the robotaxi operation, the vehicles will be heavily teleoperated, meaning there will be a human monitoring the trips and capable of intervening if need be.

Even with teleoperations, though, the risks are high, not just from a human safety perspective, but also for Tesla’s reputation as a force in the self-driving world. As you may have noticed lately, Tesla, thanks in large part to Musk’s politics and general Trump brown-nosing, hasn’t really been doing so hot as a company lately, and a big flop in the self-driving arena probably won’t help that. Nor will it instill much faith in the EV company’s promise of bringing fully autonomous driving to the masses. Compounding those stakes is the fact that competitors like Waymo are nipping at Tesla’s heels, having launched their own robotaxi programs in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin. So, this is your moment, Musk, time to put all that hype to the test—or potentially crash and burn trying.