I tested Tesla and Waymo's robotaxis in Austin — only one felt ready for the future
I was walking down South Congress Avenue in Downtown Austin on a Wednesday afternoon when a fleet of Waymos pulled up at a stoplight, like a little robotaxi posse.
This is a fairly new sight. Alphabet's Waymo, which has more than 100 robotaxis in Austin, began offering paid rides through Uber's platform in March, joining several other US cities.
Tesla rolled out a pilot launch of its robotaxi in Austin in June. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in an April earnings call that the service will start with 10 to 20 Model Ys. So far, the service is limited to invite-only and includes a human safety monitor in every car. Musk said in an X post on Sunday that the service will be "open access" by September.
I flew to the Texas capital in July to compare the two services head-to-head, examining factors like app experience, pick-up times, drop-off location accuracy, and passenger experience.
In May, my colleague Alistair Barr and I pitted Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system against Waymo's fully autonomous driver. Musk dismissed that comparison because FSD assumes a human is always ready to take over.
This time, I could do a true 1:1 comparison of the companies' robotaxis.
My experience with Tesla's Robotaxi shows how far the company has come with its FSD technology since it debuted in 2020. Still, I ran into issues with Tesla's Robotaxi that made me feel it is not yet ready for the masses.
A spokesperson for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. A Waymo spokesperson declined to comment.
Here's what happened.
The test
Tesla's Robotaxi operates with a limited number of cars in Austin — and, more recently, in San Francisco, where human drivers sit behind the wheel.
In Austin, Waymo's fleet is managed by Uber. It's part of Waymo's strategy to explore different fleet operators outside its own company. In this case, users hail the robotaxi through the Uber app.
Just like in San Francisco, Austin's Waymo fleet consists of retrofitted Jaguar I-PACE SUVs. It has five lidar sensors, six radars, and 29 cameras. Tesla's Robotaxis have eight external cameras. Business Insider's Grace Kay previously reported that the Model Y Robotaxis have some modifications, including self-cleaning cameras and a telecommunications unit that connects with remote operators.
The comparison includes multiple rides that I took on July 16 and 17. I took five rides in Tesla's Robotaxi during the early mornings and afternoons. I went on eight Waymo rides over the course of a full day for the test.
My time with Tesla's Robotaxi was limited to the availability of my rider companion, Vu Kong, a local Tesla investor who manages a dental group. He received an early Robotaxi invite and graciously took the time out of his workweek to bring me along for a few rides.
First up: Waymo
One of the observations I've consistently seen from Waymo is that the autonomous driving technology is safe but assertive, whether that's in San Francisco or Los Angeles. In Austin, I saw an even bolder Waymo.
One notable moment was when the Waymo was trying to pull out of a parking lot by making a left turn against oncoming cars coming from my left. It was during rush hour, and traffic was packed. A bus to my right had stopped, so oncoming cars to my left had started to form a line.
The Waymo decided to squeeze through the space it had and carefully inched forward — almost as if it was telling the other cars, "I'm going to make my left turn, darn it."
The Waymos got my pickup and drop-off location exactly right every ride.
There are times in San Francisco when a Waymo might pick me up about a block away from where I am.
I took multiple Waymo rides from early morning hours to Austin's 5 p.m. peak traffic time. The average price across eight rides was $10.69. The average pick-up time was about seven minutes.
In Austin, users must opt in for the autonomous vehicle option in their Uber app. There is no way to specifically request a robotaxi for each ride. Uber will instead pair you with whatever vehicle is on the most time-efficient route — human or robot, according to a Waymo spokesperson.
The spokesperson said Uber will likely send a human driver if the best route requires a highway. Waymo is testing on highways in SF, LA, and Phoenix, but public riders don't have access yet, the spokesperson said.
I ended up canceling 47 Uber rides in my attempt to hail a Waymo so that I could recreate a route I took in Tesla's Robotaxi from Austin's South Congress area to the Crestview neighborhood up north, about nine miles away.
I did not end up connecting with a Waymo for that specific route.
Normally, I don't mind human Uber drivers. My main concern is getting from point A to B as quickly, safely, and cheaply as possible.
For folks who want a robotaxi or would prefer a ride to themselves, I can see a scenario in the future where people will go straight to Tesla's Robotaxi app instead of Uber — that is, once it's available to the general public and Tesla removes its safety driver.
Tesla time
Tesla's Robotaxi fleet is made up of the latest Model Y, which I found to be a smooth, comfortable ride.
I've hailed Teslas through Uber and Lyft that were driven by humans. During those rides, I almost always got carsick. When riding in Tesla's Robotaxi, I did not get carsick at all (reaffirming a personal theory: Some human drivers don't know how to drive a Tesla).
During my rides, the Tesla's autonomous driving system drove at a reasonable speed, maintained a safe distance from other cars and cyclists, and recognized construction zones.
Three incidents, though, required us to connect with a remote Tesla support agent — two of which happened on my first ride.
The first intervention happened as the Robotaxi was trying to pull out of a parking lot. We were waiting for about a minute when a message popped up on the rear center screen: "Our team has identified an issue and is working to resolve it."
A remote "support agent" at Tesla soon connected with us. "It looks like the vehicle isn't making any progress. Is everything OK?" the agent said.
After explaining that we appeared to be stuck, the remote agent said they'd help us out. We were soon on our way.
The next intervention came about 20 minutes later, after we changed the route mid-journey. As we were heading down Fruth Street, Tesla's Robotaxi began to approach a road clearly marked with two "Do Not Enter" signs.
This is where I realized the importance of having a human safety monitor inside every car — and why the monitors appear to be on a strict do-not-talk-to-the-riders policy. Chatting might make the ride feel less awkward, but they're actually performing an important job, which is paying close attention to what's happening on the roads.
As the car moved forward, the safety monitor touched a button on the center console screen to stop the ride. We were heading down an empty one-way road.
A remote support agent connected again, and the Robotaxi began a three-point turn before slamming the brakes.
There were no other notable incidents on that ride.
The third intervention came the next day. Kong and I wanted to take the car to the very edge of Tesla's geofence, which establishes the boundaries of the Robotaxi service.
When we changed the destination toward the end of our ride, the Tesla started to take us on a new route that briefly put us outside the geofence. A remote support agent called to let us know that they had to reroute the car so that it wouldn't go outside the digital boundaries. I was at least comforted to see how responsive the remote agents were.
Tesla's Robotaxi also avoided the highway during my rides. It's unclear if Tesla is avoiding them for public riders for now, just as with Waymo.
During my fourth ride to North Austin, Kong, a five-year resident of Texas, noticed that the Robotaxi was taking a longer route to a destination that should've been an 18-minute trip if the car had taken the 35 highway or MoPac Expressway, according to Google Maps.
Traffic was light to moderate during the times I took Tesla's Robotaxi. There were no issues with pick-up or drop-off locations. Pick-up times were mostly around 10 minutes, but there was one case where the pick-up time was nearly half an hour.
Tesla hasn't specified how many cars it has added since it expanded the coverage area, but during the company's latest earnings call on July 23, Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's VP of AI software, said it had a "handful" of vehicles on the roads.
I didn't have direct access to the Robotaxi app, but based on what I saw from Kong, it appeared easy to use.
The app glitched once and showed that a Robotaxi was on the way, even though we had just been dropped off at our destination. Kong told me that the app can be a bit buggy.
The verdict
As in our May test between Waymo and Tesla FSD (Supervised), Waymo won. While impressive, Tesla's Robotaxi is still a work in progress.
I never felt in danger while riding — but it didn't quite feel like the well-oiled service that Waymo delivers.
The intervention I experienced when Tesla's Robotaxi started driving down a one-way road showed why a safety monitor is still necessary. They're not passive passengers, but constantly watching for issues.
That's not to suggest Waymo is perfect. Even after one hundred million autonomously driven miles, Waymo still makes mistakes.
A previous Business Insider analysis of Waymo's progress in California found that between January and March 2025, when it provided more than 1.8 million rides in the Golden State, Waymo saw 7 collisions per 100,000 rides.
Still, the company has published data showing a significant safety advantage over the average human driver. Earlier this year, Waymo said it's providing 250,000 paid trips a week.
Waymo's achievement didn't happen overnight. Seven years ago, Alphabet launched an early rider program, giving a limited number of vetted riders access to Waymos with safety drivers inside the car.
Musk said Tesla's ramp-up will be faster — a thousand robotaxis in Austin by the end of the year. Still, I'm more interested in another milestone: When will they remove the in-car safety monitor?
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