Tesla officially launched its unsupervised Robotaxi service in Dallas and Houston on April 20, 2026, marking the first time the company has introduced the service in new cities without an initial supervised phase. This expansion follows the earlier rollout of robotaxi services in Austin, Texas, and the San Francisco Bay Area. In Austin, the service initially included a safety driver before transitioning to unsupervised operations in January 2026. In San Francisco, a safety monitor remains behind the wheel due to regulatory requirements.
The new service in Dallas and Houston utilizes Tesla Model Y vehicles, with videos confirming the absence of human safety monitors in the front seats. The service operates daily from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. local time and is accessible via a dedicated section within the Tesla app.
While the launch represents a significant step for Tesla's autonomous driving ambitions, the operational areas in both cities are currently limited. In Dallas, the service zone covers approximately 78 to 90 square kilometers, focusing on central neighborhoods and Highland Park. Houston's service area is smaller, spanning about 30 to 39 square kilometers and forming a triangle around Jersey Village and Willowbrook. For context, the Houston metropolitan area exceeds 25,900 square kilometers.
Initial reports indicate minimal vehicle availability in both Dallas and Houston, with some robotaxi tracking tools showing only one active vehicle per city and availability as low as 0-2%. This suggests a gradual scaling strategy, similar to the early stages of the Austin rollout where the geofence began at 20 square miles before expanding.
Pricing for the new service appears competitive. An early ride in Dallas, covering 2.25 miles in 7 minutes, was recorded at $6.15. This introductory pricing in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex follows a formula of a $3.25 base fare plus $1.00 per mile. This pricing is significantly lower than some competing autonomous services, with one comparison showing Tesla's fare to be approximately 56% cheaper for a similar trip with Waymo.
This expansion aligns with Tesla's previously announced plans from its last quarterly results presentation in January, where the company stated intentions to expand its robotaxi service to seven cities in the first half of the year, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas. The regulatory environment in Texas, which passed relevant legislation for autonomous driving as early as 2017, is considered favorable for this expansion.