AUSTIN — Tesla’s unsupervised Robotaxi fleet drove approximately 700,000 miles in the second quarter of 2026, a decline of approximately 36 percent from the approximately 1.1 million miles driven in the first quarter of 2026. The reduction in mileage coincided with the company launching its Robotaxi service in Orlando and Tampa, Florida, on July 21, 2026.

Tesla operates Robotaxi services in six cities across Texas and Florida. The company’s unsupervised robotaxis have driven a total of 380,000 miles across these six cities in the two states.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that Robotaxi mileage is increasing at a rate of 10 percent per week. “We’re going as fast as humanly possible in scaling Robotaxi, while trying to ensure that we do not harm anyone at all and ideally do not even run over a pet,” Musk said. He added that Tesla needs to accumulate driving data specific to the Cybercab before deploying a large number of them.

He addressed the high standard for safety incidents involving autonomous vehicles. “Although there are, I think, 30 to 40,000 automotive deaths per year in the United States alone, most of those do not generate any press, you don’t really read about almost any of those. But if we injure even one person, it will be worldwide headline news, and regulators will immediately clamp down on our activities,” he said.

Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet has been involved in approximately 18 incidents, according to the Robotaxi Tracker. Data from the tracker indicates that 56 percent of the incidents involving Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet were the fault of another driver. Tesla has reported crashes to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the year since it started trialing its Robotaxi service.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported specific details regarding some of these crashes. Tesla reported three crashes caused by teleoperators moving vehicles remotely. The company also reported multiple instances of Robotaxis hitting objects at low speeds, including curbs, utility poles, and a tow truck’s bed.

Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla Head of AI, defended the company’s technology approach during the earnings discussion. “Historically, the so-called experts have always claimed that you need lidars, radars, HD maps, and the entire kitchen sink to drive safely,” Elluswamy said. “Here we show that such is not true. You can have safe, comfortable, and affordable autonomy with just cameras. This record should be a huge validation of Tesla’s entire AI approach.”

He explained the strategy behind expanding to multiple locations rather than concentrating on a single market. “The reason we have been expanding across different cities, instead of just doubling down on a single city, is that we want to make sure that our stack is a very general one,” he said. He further stated that Tesla’s Robotaxis have had “zero notable incidents” while driving more than 380,000 miles without a safety operator onboard.

He stated that reports of incidents have been of other actors impacting Tesla Robotaxis when they were stationary. The company’s Robotaxis are currently running version 15 of Full Self-Driving software, while Tesla’s customer vehicles are currently running version 14.3.6 of Full Self-Driving software. Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software is under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Fleet sizes in Texas have fluctuated in recent months. According to the Robotaxi Tracker, Tesla currently has 16 unsupervised vehicles in Austin, four in Dallas, and one in Houston. Another count from the tracker on July 21, 2026, listed 17 unsupervised vehicles in Austin, four in Dallas, and zero in Houston. In May 2026, the tracker recorded 29 unsupervised vehicles in Austin, six in Houston, and five in Dallas.

Tesla Robotaxis in the San Francisco Bay Area operate with a safety driver and do not have state-required permits to operate autonomously. In contrast, Waymo typically drives around four million miles a week. Waymo is estimated to have over 3,500 fully driverless vehicles in operation across over 10 cities.

Analysts and executives addressed the regulatory environment surrounding the service. BNP Paribas Equity Research senior analyst James Picariello described Tesla’s Robotaxi progress as “an alarming decline” in a research note. Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco noted on the earnings call that “there seems to be some evolving regulations at the state level, potentially around sensor requirements.”

Tesla’s vice president of vehicle engineering Lars Morvay commented on legislative efforts in the Northeast. The regulatory situation in New Jersey “is a little bit disheartening,” Morvay said. New Jersey is considering a bill that would ban robotaxis without multiple sensors, such as radar and lidar. The U.S. Department of Transportation proposed a rule change last month that would no longer require brake pedals in cars designed to be autonomous.

Previous predictions regarding the scale of the service have not materialized as initially projected. He predicted in 2024 that Tesla’s autonomous ridehail vehicles would be available to half the U.S. population by the end of 2025. He also predicted that Tesla would have 500 or more Robotaxi vehicles in the Austin area by the end of 2025.

He predicted that the Robotaxi service would be profitable in 2027. Tesla’s stock price declined more than 13 percent in early trading on July 23, 2026.