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Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) robotaxi service in Austin will be open to the general public starting in September, according to a social media post by CEO Elon Musk. The public launch will follow an initial invite-only phase that began in June with a limited group of users and a small fleet of driverless vehicles.
Of note, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has recently secured all the necessary permits to expand operations statewide in Texas, with approval from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, and will operate the service as a licensed Transportation Network Company through August 2026.
Guggenheim analyst Ronald Jewsikow sees the Austin Robotaxi debut and FSD upgrade as positive for Tesla (TSLA). He wrote that the public robotaxi launch in Austin is earlier than investor expectations and a sign of confidence in the service and feedback from the invite-only riders to date.
“We believe the expanded FSD model has positive implications for bulls focused on the potential for TSLAs fleet eventually becoming Robotaxis (positive read on inference compute), and the opening of the Austin Robotaxi experience to the public is a key step on the growth path of inviting a potentially more critical set of consumers. While safety drivers will remain, and no timeline has been provided for their removal, bulls have been willing to overlook the optics of safety drivers in TSLA vehicles, and we see no reason why that would change now.”
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) have drifted 7.5% higher over the last six weeks, but are still more than 30% below the 52-week high mark. The market cap on Tesla (TSLA) is at $1.09 trillion, making the company the 10th most valuable in the U.S.