Tesla to expand robotaxi service area in Austin “this weekend” and to the Bay Area “in a month or two”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company’s robataxi, which launched last month to a limited ridership in a limited area in Austin, will expand its coverage area in the city “this weekend.” Musk also posted on X that the service would expand to the Bay Area “in a month or two,” pending regulatory approvals. He didn’t give much else in the way of details, like where else in Austin the robotaxi would operate, or if and when it would stop requiring a human employee to sit in the passenger seat.

The stock is up 1% premarket.

“We view Musk’s comments as positive relative to the recent shift in investor sentiment regarding Tesla’s autonomous vehicle efforts,” wrote Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, who mercifully does not appear to be acquiescing to Musk’s request that he “shut up.”