(Credit: Tim Goessman/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Tesla’s robotaxi service began in Austin back in late June, and now the brand has undergone its second expansion that has seen it quadruple its initial service area. This new expansion is almost double the size of the original extension seen in mid July.
As first spotted by Tesla fan Sawyer Merritt, the company's robotaxi service expanded on Sunday, August 3. It saw the service begin to cover more of the south of Austin than before.
Electric vehicle news source Teslarati reports that the brand now covers 80 square miles across Austin. The initial testing from Tesla saw it covering 20 square miles, before an expansion on July 14 saw it move to 42 square miles.
It’s thought Tesla’s biggest rival, Waymo, covers 90 square miles of the city. Joe Tegtmeyer on X, who often posts around Tesla topics, shows the Waymo service on a map alongside its rival. The map shows how Tesla has more coverage in the south of the city, while Waymo’s extends further into the north.
These new changes from Tesla also see it lose the visual joke where its coverage looked like a penis when seen from above. This change came at a time when Tesla also moved its prices to $6.90 as a reference to a sex position.
Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, previously confirmed its plans to expand coverage areas during its latest earnings call. The company said it planned to expand its Austin area by 10 times that of the initial rollout. It didn't confirm what deadline, if any, it had set in place for the changes.
In the same earnings call, Musk said he wanted the company to cover half of the US population by the end of 2025. That’s a target the brand is unlikely to meet in the next five months, and Musk said it would be subject to regulatory approval in many of the areas.
He also confirmed the company is aiming to expand its robotaxi business to areas like Arizona, Bay Area, Florida and Nevada.