Tesla launched its robotaxi services in Austin, Texas, only yesterday, but the company already has the attention of federal safety regulators due to its self-driving operations in the city. After the company launched its services and a handful of early testers were able to take a ride, they shared how Tesla robotaxis violated a handful of traffic laws in the metro.
The latest reports revealed that Tesla is now facing inquiries from traffic safety regulators regarding their violations, especially in some cases where it exhibited unsafe driving in its autonomous cars.
Tesla Robotaxi in Austin Causes Concerns to Regulators
Bloomberg first reported that the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has already contacted Tesla regarding their newly launched robotaxi tests in Austin. This was because of the many videos that surfaced online show how the Tesla electric vehicles and its self-driving technology fared in real road conditions with live passengers on board.
TechCrunch’s report confirmed that the NHTSA indeed reached out to Tesla to inquire about the incidents involving their robotaxi testing in Austin, and the agency is looking to gather more information about the concern.
The NHTSA said that no automotive company or manufacturer is above the law, and this includes Tesla, whose robotaxis reportedly exhibited dangers in their self-driving operations and tests in the city.
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Tesla’s Robotaxi Rollout Already Committed Violations
Several users have posted their initial experiences in riding Tesla’s self-driving cars in Austin shortly after launching the tests to select passengers, and one video shows the driverless car swerving into the wrong lane.
Here’s my entire first Tesla Robotaxi trip from start to finish. Ten miles across south Austin. Timestamps in comments. pic.twitter.com/cr6y4z1UWB
— Rob Maurer (@TeslaPodcast) June 22, 2025
Another account reported by TechCrunch revealed that a Tesla robotaxi braked abruptly on two separate occasions without any dangers ahead or reason to do so. Additionally, one incident also saw a Tesla robotaxi hit the brakes when it detected police cars parked on the road.
Tesla Robotaxi and Its Massive Plans
Tesla has always prided itself on its autonomous driving technologies that the company has delivered over the years, but it has seen significant scrutiny from federal regulators because of accidents and issues that drivers encountered.
Despite these, the company went off to unveil its grand plans to launch a self-driving ride-hailing service, which it calls the “Robotaxi.”
Elon Musk and Tesla claimed that the Robotaxi service would launch in 2025, and this was shortly after the company confirmed the existence of its service in the latter part of last year, complete with the new autonomous cars it is touting for the operations.
However, while these futuristic vehicles are not yet here, the company already began the testing of its autonomous ride-hailing services in San Francisco earlier this year.
The company has fast traction in its robotaxi business as it already started testing and acquired a permit over in San Francisco, and it recently moved forward to launching the service in Austin. Soon, Tesla is planning to add more cities where its self-driving robotaxi service would be available.
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