Tesla is asked to delay Robotaxi launch in Austin by Texas lawmakers

Texas lawmakers have officially requested that Tesla delay its planned Robotaxi launch in Austin by a few months due to a new law being implemented.

It’s a Godsend for Elon Musk.

As we previously reported, Tesla’s planned Robotaxi launch in Austin, Texas, now “tentatively” scheduled for June 22, is a moving of the goal post for Tesla.

CEO Elon Musk himself has previously described what Tesla plans to launch as “not really self-driving”, but the CEO is using the new strategy as a way to claim a win in autonomous driving after years of missed deadlines and failed promises.

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Since last year, Musk has discussed launching the service in Austin this summer. For the last few months, he had indicated that it would happen in June, with the June 22nd date being officially shared last week.

For Musk to claim his win, Tesla would need to stick to the deadline, which would be a first for Tesla when it comes to its autonomous driving roadmap.

However, Texas lawmakers have just given Tesla an out.

A group of seven Austin-based lawmakers in the Texas Senate and House have signed a letter asking Tesla to delay its launch until September:

As members of the Austin delegation in the Texas Senate and Texas House of Representatives, we are formally requesting that Tesla delay autonomous robotaxi operations until the new law takes effect on September I, 2025. We believe this is in the best interest of both public safety and building public trust in Tesla’s operations. If Tesla opts to proceed with the June 22, 2025, launch date, we request that you respond to this letter with detailed information demonstrating that Tesla will be compliant with the new law upon the launch of driverless operations in Austin.

Texas has had very few regulations affecting autonomous driving, and the new law maintains this status quo. However, it also introduces requirements for following federal guidelines, and the latest version of the bill references SAE autonomous driving levels.

It doesn’t sound like the lawmakers are forcing Tesla to delay the launch for now. They are more politely asking to delay until the new framework is in place.

here’s the full letter from the Texas lawmakers:

Electrek’s Take

This appears to be a Godsend for Tesla and Musk. Even with the significantly reduced scope of the program compared to what Tesla has promised for years, and the fact that Waymo has been doing exactly what Tesla is trying to accomplish for years, it appears that Tesla is having difficulties delivering on that.

As we previously reported, testing without a safety driver has been extremely limited based on sightings, and it appears that Tesla has simply relocated the “safety driver” to the passenger seat with a kill switch for optics.

Now, Tesla can claim that it has to delay the launch to please the regulators rather than because it is not ready.

There’s also NHTSA, which put a deadline for today for Tesla to answer a bunch of questions about its planned Robotaxi launch in Austin. So, that could also play a role.

Now, let’s see if Tesla takes the out or decides to move forward. For everyone’s sake, I hope they take the out.