Overview

• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has contacted Tesla for data and opened inquiries after videos showed the Model Y robotaxis speeding, making improper turns, veering into wrong lanes and engaging in phantom braking.
• Austin’s autonomous vehicle incident dashboard logged its first safety concern on June 22, the same day Tesla launched its limited pilot of 10–20 geofenced robotaxis.
• Seven Texas Democratic lawmakers led by Senator Sarah Eckhardt formally urged Tesla to delay the rollout until basic safety guardrails take effect on September 1 and demanded detailed compliance information.
• Each robotaxi carries a front-seat human safety monitor, a departure from Elon Musk’s promise of fully unsupervised rides and a sign of the technical hurdles facing Tesla’s camera-only autonomy.
• Waymo and Baidu operate large fleets equipped with lidar and radar that have completed millions of paid trips, highlighting questions about the scalability of Tesla’s approach and its aggressive growth targets.