Tesla Robotaxi is hiccuped, including long waits, Pokemon-style hunting in cars, and even driving in the wrong lanes
For many Tesla investors, the launch of the Robotaxi pilot in Texas on Sunday represents a historic day. After years of bold promise, Elon Musk’s company began its own ferry of passengers, even without a human right behind the wheel.
The first impression was very positive, but that should be a bit surprising. The selection of passengers in the invited-only test was skewed towards the Tesla Bulls, including Dan Ives. Analysts at Wedbush Tech have argued that the stock should be worth twice its current market value of $1 trillion, and currently recommend it as a purchase with a price target of $500.
“Overall, these Robotaxis exceeded our expectations and provided a seamless, personalized travel experience that was hit with the sparks of autonomous driving,” Ives told clients in a research note on Sunday, summarizing his experience as “very impressive.”
On the one hand, the day marked a historic milestone for Tesla. Tesla stocks are set to open 1.7% higher stakes in the flat market.
For the first time, manufacturers that rely heavily on hardware sales (electric vehicle delivery) have developed a path to one day becoming a company that can make significant profits from high margin software and services.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2ivz10l3ns
Nevertheless, it isChatGpt Moment“It’s Tesla CEO.” It was promised for The past two years.
As Musk prophesied, there was no switch that suddenly created millions of Tesla vehicles that could drive themselves without human supervision.
Tesla has tested its service by inviting friendly suburban influencers
Instead, the rides were primarily limited to many well-known Tesla-friendly influencers. Most of them traveled to Austin from out of town just to participate in the launch.
The exact number of cars to take part in the pilot on Sunday is unknown. The mask showed that he initially wanted only about 12 or so to reduce the risk and ensure maximum safety.
The Tesla employee, who serves as a safety monitor, was always in the passenger seat, but it was unclear how the vehicle had affected it and whether the vehicle was telesailed remotely.
The rides were geophenized in the southern part of Austin. Symbolic price of $4.20 each (I often use marijuana reference masks) I tended to keep them short. Two live streams from the Tesla Promoter, Farzad Mesbahi and Sawyer Merritt, were five and three minutes in length, respectively.
Tesla did not release the numbers from the first day, but in one photo at the Tesla Robotakshi Command Center Posted Program Leads Ashok Elluswamy’s lead, the screen showed that 112 vehicles were driven for a total of 499 miles, or about 4.5 miles per ride.
The company did not respond to the request luck For comments.
Find a robotaxi like “Pokemon Hunting”
Even in this controlled environment it didn’t go away completely without any problems. There was a slight 2 hour delay at first, and when service was activated, participants cited unusually long wait times and far-reaching locations of pickups.
In one example, this required Herbert On and Xander Sky to huff for a Tesla vehicle.
“It’s like Pokemon Hunting,” Skye joked. One of the guests on the livestream said, “I’ll keep running, I’ll keep running.”
“Continue running, keep running.” – @teslaboomermama As she sees @herbertong I searched his first Robotaxi and went to pick him up in Austin. Herbert earned about a quarter mile of stairs, but he eventually found Robotaxi. pic.twitter.com/7yxfesqraf– Miss Jilianne (@missjilianne) June 22, 2025
Another tester on Sunday, Sawyer Merritt said he was very active in the Tesla community and hopes that this inconvenience will be fixed soon.
“One of the things I can do is change the Robotaxi pickup spot,” he said. I made a comment. “Now you’re trapped in what it’s chosen.”
“Obviously we’re on the other side of the double yellow line.”
However, the biggest problem occurred during a trip that Rob Maurer had taken. The former Tesla daily podcaster was in the back seat of the Model Y when he tried to make a temporary left turn to try to turn left before returning to the road in front.
But by that point it was temporarily driving in lanes reserved for approaching traffic.
“Obviously we’re on the wrong side of the double yellow line here. There’s no vehicle anywhere in our view, so this wasn’t a safety issue (but) we rang out at the car behind us,” Maurer said.
In other words, day one was a lot of success that many Tesla critics have hoped for, given the restrictions that masks were put in place to ensure safety, but nevertheless leaves room for improvement even before the service expands to more users.