Tesla launching paid Robotaxi fleet for HW4 owners OTA as it lets Model Y drive solo

The Model Y vehicles that Tesla started its Robotaxi service with have now become sentient and are driving on their own with no employee in the car.

Tesla started its Robotaxi ride-share platform pilot in Austin with owned and operated Model Y units that have been running a different FSD 14 branch that the automaker calls "unsupervised." Out of an abundance of caution, there has always been a safety companion, whether in the passenger seat, like in Texas, or in the driver's seat without touching the wheel or pedals, like in California due to local regulations.

Tesla has now removed the safety supervisor from the car, and Model Y robotaxi units have been caught doing test runs on public streets in Austin with nobody in the vehicle, in a truly unsupervised FSD manner.

When will unsupervised FSD launch?

Tesla has been explaining from the start of its Robotaxi ride-share service that the vehicles run on a custom FSD branch that is different from what "regular" privately owned Model Y units get.

So far, Tesla has been doing truly unsupervised Model Y FSD test runs only within the confines of its factories, letting newly assembled cars drive themselves from the conveyor belt to the delivery parking lot. It also did a test self-delivery, where a newly acquired Model Y got to the buyer on its own.

Now, however, it has amassed enough data from the Robotaxi pilot to confidently remove the safety person and test unsupervised FSD itself on busy public streets without anybody in the vehicle. 

Not only that, but the unsupervised FSD branch will apparently be merging with the one available to the public soon. Tesla hinted that unsupervised FSD will be arriving to vehicles it doesn't own and operate via an OTA update "first slowly, and then all at once," hinting at a bright Robotaxi future. For AI4/HW4 vehicle owners, that is. Those with older HW3 Model Y are only likely to get FSD 14 Lite, which may have more limited abilities than the ones needed to run unsupervised FSD.

Tesla owners will then be able to add their Model Y to the Robotaxi fleet and start earning when they don't need their car against a 20% cut for maintaining the Tesla ride-share app and the payment platform. Elon Musk has previously said that the launch of unsupervised FSD for Tesla vehicle owners will happen some time in 2026, when the Cybercab two-seaters are expected to hit city streets as part of the Robotaxi platform fleet, too.

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