A Tesla Inc. robotaxi on Oltorf Street in Austin, Texas, on June 22, 2025.
Tesla 's Model Y robotaxi finally hit the road this weekend, sending shares of the electric vehicle maker up 9% on Monday.
The EV giant debuted autonomous rides in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, opening the service to a limited number of riders by invitation only.
Those invited included longtime Tesla fans, promoters and shareholders, many of whom generate income from posting Tesla- and Musk-related social media content on platforms including X and YouTube.
CEO Elon Musk said in a post on his social network X that customers were charged a flat fee of $4.20 per ride.
"Super congratulations to the @Tesla_AI software & chip design teams on a successful @Robotaxi launch!! Culmination of a decade of hard work. Both the AI chip and software teams were built from scratch within Tesla," he said in a post.
One passenger in Tesla's early access program for the Model Y robotaxis wrote on X that they did 11 rides with the service with "zero issues." Musk reposted numerous firsthand encounters with the services.
Other road users and researchers observed the robotaxis appearing to violate traffic rules in Austin.
The Verge reported a Tesla Model Y robotaxi briefly traveled the wrong way down a road in Austin. Tesla-critical author Ed Niedermeyer shared a video from Austin showing a Tesla robotaxi braking hard in the middle of traffic in response to "stationary police vehicles outside its driving path."