Tesla announced it is expanding its Robotaxi service to Orlando and Tampa, Florida, posting service-area maps on X without disclosing fleet sizes or when riders could actually start hailing cars. The timing coincides with Tesla's second-quarter earnings call, where CEO Elon Musk is expected to update investors on the Robotaxi programme's progress, making the announcement look like an attempt to signal growth ahead of scrutiny of the numbers.

The expansion comes despite the service falling well short of Musk's earlier predictions, which included covering half the US population by the end of 2025 and having 500-plus vehicles in Austin alone. Vehicle counts have fluctuated unpredictably across cities, with Austin dropping from 29 unsupervised vehicles in May to 17 now, Dallas from six to four, and Houston to zero, according to the Robotaxi Tracker, compared with Waymo's roughly 3,500 driverless vehicles across ten-plus cities. Reports also cite long wait times, misplaced pick-ups and drop-offs, and reliance on remote operators, including one unsupervised vehicle that this week crashed into a tree stump while being remotely controlled; Musk has predicted the service will turn profitable in 2027.