The key to tesla‘s (NASDAQ:TSLA) the investment case is its robotaxi operations; Without a robotaxi future, the stock price will surely plummet. That’s why many investors eagerly follow every new unsupervised robotaxi added to their operations in Austin, Dallas and Houston. Here’s what investors can expect for the rest of 2026.
Tesla’s growing robotaxi fleet
The good news is that Tesla is aggressively growing its fleet. At the time of writing, the company has 39 unsupervised robotaxis in operation. That may not seem like much, but it’s a lot more than the nine at the beginning of April or even the 26 at the beginning of May.
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However, investors shouldn’t wait too long until Tesla releases its next version of fully self-driving (supervised) driving (FSD) software.
This is important to keep in mind because much of the narrative around the stock focuses on how many robotaxis Tesla has in operation and whether its slow progress is an indication of a problem with the launch.
When to expect a widespread robotaxi launch
In the latest earnings call, CEO Elon Musk was asked if the latest version of FSD (v14.3) was the “last piece of the puzzle” for FSD and robotaxis.
He said yes, but that Tesla has “many known improvements, such as significant architectural improvements” that could “significantly increase the likelihood of safety.” He then said that “it wouldn’t make sense for us to deploy FSD Robotaxi on a large scale without oversight when we know there are important architectural improvements to the software that can improve safety.”
Tesla is therefore focusing on the validation and release of its FSD v15 software before moving to “very large-scale unsupervised FSD.”
What’s next for Tesla?
So presumably v15 is the key, and since Musk says v15 will “certainly” be available in early 2027, it makes sense to wait until then before expecting a widespread release.
Meanwhile, investors can expect deployments in geofenced urban areas and launches in new cities, with preparations underway for Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Las Vegas. On a positive note, Tesla moved directly to unsupervised robotaxis in Dallas and Houston and currently operates only on that basis in those cities.
All told, the narrative around the robotaxi launch is likely to be positive now that Musk has hinted that a major large-scale ramp-up won’t happen until next year. That’s a good thing.