Tesla robotaxi interface leaks on Model Y as Texas lawmakers ask for launch delay

As Tesla gears to start the first rides with its driverless Robotaxi platform in Austin on June 22, a group of Texas lawmakers have sent a letter asking it to postpone the launch.

Tesla picked Austin precisely because of the lax Texas regulations around autonomous vehicles compared with, say, California. Texas doesn't ask for autonomous vehicle compliance that is any different from what it already demands from other cars on public roads, like registration and insurance.

The lawmakers, however, are introducing a new autonomous vehicle legislation that will go into effect on September 1, and ask Tesla to postpone the Robotaxi launch until then. "Under the new framework," says the letter, "commercial autonomous vehicle operators transporting passengers or property must receive prior authorization from the Department of Motor Vehicles before operating on public streets without a human driver."

The 2026 Model Y units that Tesla currently uses for Robotaxi platform tests around Austin already comply with most of the requirements in the legislation. Some of them, such as being "capable of achieving a minimal risk condition if the automated driving system is rendered inoperable," may still need to be demonstrated so that Tesla can proceed with the service before the framework is enforced. Others include communication with first responders, but Tesla already did their training in Austin.

• How first responders interact with the autonomous vehicles.
• How to communicate with fleet support and safely remove or tow vehicles from the roadway.
• Any additional information regarding hazardous conditions or public safety risks associated with the vehicles.

Tesla will launch the Robotaxi service with about a dozen new Model Y units that have been driving around Austin for a while now, branded with the new ride-share platform logo that can be seen below. There have been numerous spottings of those driverless Model Ys that seem to ride with a test passenger either in the front, or at the back seat.

Someone even managed to get a snapshot of the developer interface of the Robotaxi platform while sitting at a traffic light. The UI shows a 3D map and two giant buttons that say "Pull Over" and "Emergency Stop." It remains to be seen if those buttons will end up in the final Robotaxi vehicle interface, but Elon Musk said that Tesla's first priority with the pilot Robotaxi launch will be safety.

So much so that Tesla is going the Waymo route with geofenced city areas that it has mapped extensively so that nothing is left to chance. It will also have human operators ready to assist, again like Waymo.

As can be seen in the video below, Tesla is currently doing a second validation pass on said city streets, too, to calibrate what the Model Y camera-only FSD sees with the geofenced area mapping.