Tesla Robotaxi Launches in San Antonio and Grows Its Austin Zone by 63%
San Antonio is Tesla's eighth driverless ride-hailing city, and Austin's service area now covers about 443 square miles.
Tesla expanded its driverless ride-hailing service twice on November 9. In the morning it launched Robotaxi in San Antonio, starting at 5 a.m. local time. Hours later it announced a much larger service area in Austin.
The numbers
- San Antonio: about 274 square miles at launch, Tesla's largest launch zone so far.
- Austin: grew from about 272 to roughly 443 square miles, an increase of about 63%.
- Fort Worth: unsupervised rides began a week earlier, on November 2.
San Antonio is the eighth US city where Tesla offers rides without a safety driver. Austin service now runs from 5 a.m. to 2 a.m., and Tesla said on its third-quarter earnings call that it aims to run around the clock by the end of 2026.
The fine print
The map is not the whole story. One analysis found the usable portion of Tesla's previous Austin zone was about 41% smaller than advertised, and TechCrunch notes that while Tesla has more than 400 vehicles registered in Austin, its fleets in other cities number from a handful to a few dozen.
Rival Waymo already operates in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, so Texas has become the main battleground for robotaxis in the US.
Sources
This story is based on reporting and official statements from:
Details were accurate when published on November 10, 2026. Found an error? Email [email protected].
