Tesla starts unsupervised Robotaxi rides in Fort Worth, its seventh driverless city

Tesla has added Fort Worth, Texas, to the list of cities where its Robotaxi service runs without anyone from the company in the car. The official Robotaxi account on X said on the evening of Sunday, November 1, that the service would be available there from 6 a.m. the following day. Public rides began on Monday, November 2, according to Drive Tesla Canada.

What launched

Not a Tesla App reports that the Fort Worth rides are fully unsupervised, meaning there is no human safety monitor on board. The geofenced area covers about 143 square miles and is centred on downtown Fort Worth. That makes it Tesla's third-largest unsupervised zone, behind Austin at roughly 272 square miles and Houston at about 254, according to the same outlet. The service starts with Model Y vehicles.

Fort Worth becomes the seventh city with unsupervised rides, after Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando and Tampa. It is the first new city in roughly three months; the previous additions were Orlando and Tampa in late July. Tesla also runs a much larger service in the San Francisco Bay Area, but there a human safety driver remains behind the wheel.

Drive Tesla Canada notes that Tesla recently extended Robotaxi booking hours to run from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., a 20-hour window. The reports reviewed do not spell out whether that schedule already applies in Fort Worth.

What is still unknown

Tesla has not said how many vehicles are deployed in Fort Worth, and neither report gives local fares. Not a Tesla App mentions a free first-ride promotion seen in Houston and Dallas, but not in Fort Worth. The company also has not published safety data specific to the new area.

The Cybercab, Tesla's purpose-built robotaxi, is not part of the Fort Worth launch. Not a Tesla App reports that Cybercab service is due to begin in Dallas later this month and speculates that Fort Worth could follow, which Tesla has not confirmed.

Why it matters

Fort Worth neighbours Dallas, where Tesla already runs unsupervised rides, so the launch extends its driverless footprint across North Texas and makes Texas home to four of its seven unsupervised cities. The absence of a monitor is the key distinction from the Bay Area service and from earlier phases of the programme. How quickly the company can grow fleets and service areas, and how the cars perform without monitors at larger scale, remains to be shown by independent data rather than company announcements.