Tesla has officially rolled out its much-anticipated self-driving taxi service in Austin, launching on Sunday with a flat fare of $4.20 per ride for a select group of users. While employees are still riding along with passengers for safety reasons, this marks a significant step forward after years of delays, safety concerns, and did not meet expectations around Tesla’s full self-driving goals.
The initial fleet consists of modified Model Y vehicles rather than the custom “cybercab” Tesla showcased last year, which still lacks a release date and received a tepid response from Wall Street. The scale of the launch also falls short of Musk’s ambitious target of “hundreds of thousands” of robotaxis by 2026—and even trails Alphabet’s Waymo, which has operated around 100 driverless cars in Austin since March.
Nonetheless, the announcement sent Tesla’s stock soaring by as much as 11% on Monday, ultimately closing with an 8% gain at $348.68. That helped reduce its 2025 losses to just under 7%. The rally added a staggering $19 billion to Elon Musk’s net worth, pushing his fortune to $385 billion and cementing his spot as the world’s richest person. He now holds a $139 billion lead over Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and a $155 billion edge over Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The gains also erased Tesla’s sharp $47 drop on June 5, which came during Musk’s public feud with former ally Donald Trump over a federal spending bill.
In a celebratory post on X, Musk credited Tesla’s in-house AI and chip teams, calling the launch the “culmination of a decade of hard work.” Still, analysts remain cautious. UBS raised its price target for Tesla to $215 but kept a “Sell” rating, warning that much of the enthusiasm is already baked into the stock.