The Voice News : Tesla has long envisioned a future where its cars drive themselves — and generate income for their owners while doing so. That vision is now closer than ever. Since CEO Elon Musk first teased the idea of robotaxis back in 2016, Tesla fans and investors have been eagerly anticipating a time when owners could transform their vehicles into revenue-generating autonomous cabs.
At the core of this vision is Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software — a highly advanced driver-assistance system that has logged more than 3.6 billion miles of hands-free driving as of early 2025. That’s nearly triple the 1.3 billion miles reported just a year ago, marking rapid expansion in user adoption and system use. However, as Tesla gears up to launch its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas this summer, Musk admitted he’s feeling “extremely paranoid” about the risks and complexities involved — and with good reason.
Tesla Begins with Caution in Austin
Tesla plans to initiate the pilot program with just 10 modified Model Y vehicles, equipped with FSD, acting as autonomous taxis. The goal is to monitor performance and safety before a broader rollout. This comes after Tesla scrapped its much-anticipated Cybercab concept, a custom-designed robotaxi, in favor of using existing models for initial trials.
“We’ll start small, make sure it works, and then scale from there,”
