Tesla Robotaxi is much cheaper than Uber as it launches in California with Rodeo drivers

Tesla launched its Robotaxi ride hailing platform in Austin with a tongue-in-cheek flat fee of $4.20 per ride, referring to one of Elon Musk's favorite numbers, then expanded the geofenced area there and raised it to $6.90 as another dad joke.

Now, however, Tesla has finally introduced dynamic pricing for its Model Y robotaxi rides based on the miles covered, and it seems that the service will be much cheaper than the competition.

Robotaxi vs Uber prices

While the dynamic pricing of ride-share services varies by city, distance travelled, time of day, or vehicles available, from the Robotaxi vs Uber price comparisons per mile so far it seems that Tesla rides are at least 50% cheaper.

The difference in robotaxi pricing with Uber rides over larger distances is rather significant. An 11-mile trip with a Model Y robotaxi in Austin was $13.71, for instance, or $1.25 per mile, while a 9-mile ride with Uber in the same area came out to $2.08, or roughly 70% more.

In another, direct comparison example, the robotaxi ride quoted $3.12 for the same distance that the cheapest Uber variant returned $7.98. That is more than double what the driverless Model Y ride charged, and the Tesla robotaxis don't need tipping, too.

Tesla robotaxis in California are not driverless

In the Bay Area, where its geofenced robotaxi area has now expanded way beyond Waymo's, Tesla seems to be charging about $2 per mile. That's more than in Austin where, with the latest "short ridges now costless" dynamic pricing update, Tesla is charging about a buck per robotaxi mile on average.

One of the reasons could be the fact that it still has to pay for an employee to sit in the driver's seat as its permit in California is only for a ride-hailing service, rather than vehicles with Level 4 autonomy as the Model Y robotaxis are categorized in Austin.

California has a much stricter regulatory framework when it comes to fully autonomous vehicles without a driver, and Tesla has been meeting with the DMV to gauge what it has to submit to get such a permit. California authorities, however, are even on the fence about Tesla's so-called "Rodeo drivers" who are testing the limits of its unsupervised self-driving software on public roads there, and warned that they are stretching the rules of Tesla's autonomous vehicles permit.

"Rodeo drivers are trained to always and immediately intervene whenever they believe their vehicles may be about to perform a behavior that may create an unsafe situation for themselves and/or other road users," countered Tesla. It rolled the Robotaxi platform rides in the Bay Area with such safety staff in the driver's seat, as can be seen in the video below, despite that its robotaxis are equipped with the specialized unsupervised FSD software branch that doesn't need them.

There will be more direct Tesla Robotaxi vs Uber ride-hailing platform comparisons as the service will now be expanding to these other US cities, too:

• Palo Alto, California
• Brooklyn, New York
• Houston, Texas
• Farmer's Branch, Texas
• Tempe, Arizona
• Henderson, Nevada
• Tampa, Florida
• Clermont, Florida
• Miami, Florida

Get the 80A Tesla Gen 2 Wall Connector with 24' cable on Amazon