Tesla Expands Austin Robotaxi Service to 21 Hours a Day

Tesla expanded its Austin Robotaxi service to 21 hours a day on Nov. 8, extending the driverless ride-hailing window as the company works toward round-the-clock operations by year-end.

Rides run from 6 a.m. ET (11:00 UTC Nov. 8) to 3 a.m. ET Nov. 9 (08:00 UTC), equivalent to 5 a.m. to 2 a.m. CST in Austin. The three-hour pause from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. ET is reserved for charging and maintenance. Before the change, service began at 7 a.m. ET and ended at 3 a.m. ET the next day.

Tesla has tied longer operating hours to improvements in software for unsupervised Robotaxi operations. Tesla executive Ashok Elluswamy said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call that 24/7 service was a target for the end of 2026, with final software optimization still needed.

By the end of the third quarter, Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet had logged nearly 2 million cumulative unsupervised miles. Waymo already offers autonomous rides 24 hours a day, seven days a week.