Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) slipped 1% in overnight trading after regulatory data revealed Waymo’s robotaxi fleet is more than 13 times the size of Tesla’s authorized driverless vehicle count in Texas.
Texas autonomous vehicle registration data showed Tesla has just 42 authorized driverless vehicles in the state, compared with 577 for Alphabet-owned Waymo, 317 for Avride, and 35 for Amazon-backed Zoox.
The fleet figures emerged under new Texas rules requiring autonomous vehicle operators to disclose fleet sizes and certify that their vehicles meet Level 4 self-driving standards.
Tesla has expanded its robotaxi service from Austin to Dallas and Houston, but its fleet remains significantly smaller than Waymo’s presence across Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.
A Reuters investigation published alongside the fleet data cited former Tesla data labelers and engineers who said the Full Self-Driving software continued to struggle with emergency vehicles, school buses, pedestrians, construction zones, and motorcyclists.
Former employees also described near-misses involving pedestrians and children, speeding incidents, and situations where drivers had to intervene at the last second to avoid accidents.
One former data labeler said they would not trust FSD because “we have all seen it fail,” while another said they would not ride in a Tesla robotaxi “if you [expletive] paid me.”
Tesla’s Austin robotaxi fleet was linked to 17 known incidents between July 2025 and April 2026, including two that resulted in minor injuries and one that required hospitalization.
Carnegie Mellon University autonomous-vehicle expert Phil Koopman challenged Tesla’s methodology for comparing FSD safety against the broader U.S. vehicle fleet, saying: “Any new car is dramatically safer than a 12-year-old car. It’s like saying: ‘My jet airplane is faster than your World War II bomber.'”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has active investigations into Autopilot- and FSD-related incidents, including collisions with emergency vehicles, failures to stop at traffic controls, and crashes in reduced-visibility conditions.
Tesla’s AI lead, Ashok Elluswamy, said on X that vehicles would soon be “driving themselves straight into Austin” to begin robotaxi service, as Elon Musk shared a video showing a Cybercab navigating Giga Texas without a visible driver.
The Cybercab, unveiled in 2024, is Tesla’s purpose-built robotaxi that lacks a steering wheel, pedals, or other manual driving controls, and is central to the company’s planned autonomous ride-hailing network.
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for TSLA slipped to “bearish” from “neutral” levels a week ago, alongside a 32% decline in chatter over the same period.
TSLA stock had closed up 0.4% on Thursday at $442.10, but the after-hours decline added pressure to a name that remains the third-worst performer among its “Magnificent Seven” peers so far this year, down 2%.
