Video Footage Captures Tesla Robotaxis Dodging and Braking Hard for Police on Opening Day in Austin

Elon Musk’s Tesla launched its driverless “Robotaxi” service in Austin, Texas, on Sunday to the over-the-top praise from its diehard fans who bragged about spending all day calling for rides. For everyone else, the whole thing ranged from extremely underwhelming to confusing to downright dangerous. Footage has already started populating online of Tesla’s driverless vehicles making confounding decisions and occasionally messing up so bad that they end up driving on the wrong side of the road.

The latter was the case in what has been perhaps the most viral fail of Tesla’s first days of operation on Austin’s roads, where it can only operate in a small, geofenced area. In a video published by Tesla Daily, which shows a 20-minute ride in the backseat of the driverless (though monitored by an in-vehicle supervisor and remote drivers ready to intervene if needed) Model Y SUV. About seven minutes into the ride, the Tesla comes upon an intersection while in the turn-only lane. The wheel jerks a bit as the car drives straight through the intersection, ending up in the opposite lane of traffic once through the lights. It starts to correct, then opts to just bypass the cars in front of it by driving through the no-passing zone lines and into a turn lane, where it finally gets re-aligned.

So that’s not great.

It was not the only incident that riders experienced while behind the wheel of Tesla’s Day One rides. In a video uploaded by Farzad, the riders request an early drop off, which prompts the Robotaxi to come to a complete stop in the middle of a four-way intersection and has everyone exit the vehicle.

Another video uploaded by Edward Niedermeyer shows a Tesla Robotaxi needlessly braking hard and coming to a near-complete stop in the middle of the road when it passes police vehicles, neither of which are actually on the street itself or require yielding.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpARr8DVU2M[/embed]

Even smaller incidents reveal kinks that need to be worked out. X user Mark Anthony shared a video showing the touch screen in the back of the vehicle lagging, resulting in an accidental call to support when attempting to request a drop off. Other videos suggest pickups took longer than expected and the Robotaxi stopped for pickups at significant distances from the actual riders.

“Keep on running, keep on running”. – @TeslaBoomerMama as she watches @herbertong search for his first Robotaxi stopped to pick him up in Austin. Herbert got about a 1/4 mile of steps in but he finally found the Robotaxi. pic.twitter.com/7yXfeSqraf

— Miss Jilianne (@MissJilianne) June 22, 2025

For a launch that was significantly limited from what was initially promised—the Financial Times reported that the service launched with just 10 cars on the road and despite Musk’s own past claims that the need to geofence where vehicle can go means it is not autonomous, Robotaxi is limited to a very small chunk of Austin and can’t go to the airport—there are already so major issues on display in a small number of actual miles driven.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment on the launch. Austin’s Transportation and Public Works Department told Gizmodo, “Tesla is working with the City of Austin’s Autonomous Vehicle Working Group, which includes staff from multiple City departments. The City treats each AV company that expresses interest in Austin the same, offering training opportunities and providing information about City right-of-way and procedures.”