"For months, Tesla's robotaxis in Austin and San Francisco have included safety monitors with access to a kill switch in case of emergency - a fallback that Waymo currently doesn't need for its commercial robotaxi service. The safety monitor sits in the passenger seat in Austin, and in the driver seat in San Francisco. Neither service is fully open to the public yet, relying instead on customer waitlists."
"The news comes as Waymo widens its lead over Tesla, reporting over 14 million paid rides in 2025 alone and plans to expand to 20 new cities in the coming year. Despite that, Musk has continued to insist that Tesla holds the advantage over the Alphabet-owned robotaxi operator due to its vast customer fleet that he insists will soon become fully autonomous. This, of course, ignores the reality that most Teslas on the road lack the necessary hardware to support fully autonomous driving."
Tesla robotaxis in Austin and San Francisco previously carried human safety monitors with kill-switch access; monitors sit in the passenger seat in Austin and the driver seat in San Francisco. Elon Musk predicted removal of those monitors by the end of 2025 and confirmed autonomous testing in Austin after videos showed robotaxis operating without front-seat occupants. Waymo reported over 14 million paid rides in 2025 and plans expansion to 20 new cities, widening its lead. Most Teslas lack hardware for full autonomy. Tesla has not yet carried paying customers in unsupervised robotaxis or released comparative safety data.
Read at The Verge
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