Tesla Robotaxi launches in San Antonio as Austin service area grows
Robotaxi Tracker puts the new San Antonio map at about 710 square kilometres, while Austin's area grew from about 700 to 1,150 on 9 November.
Daniel Lu / Wikimedia Tesla's Robotaxi service began taking rides in San Antonio, Texas, from 5 am on Monday 9 November, local time. The same day, it made its Austin area much bigger.
San Antonio's first map is already slightly larger than Austin's was before the change.
"Robotaxi available in San Antonio starting tomorrow, 5am," Tesla's Robotaxi account posted, with a map of the launch area. Hours later came a new Austin map and the line "Bigger Austin service area now live".
The San Antonio service area
The map runs from Loop 1604 on the city's north side to just south of downtown, Electrek reported. Robotaxi Tracker puts it at 274 square miles, or about 710 square kilometres.
That's more than four times Waymo's San Antonio area on the same tracker. San Antonio International Airport sits inside the map but isn't served.
Austin's larger area
The new Austin map reaches past Pflugerville toward Manor in the north-east, beyond Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in the south-east, and toward Buda in the south-west. The northern edge barely moves.
Not a Tesla App and Robotaxi Tracker both put the new area at about 443 square miles, up from 272.
| Service area | Square miles | Square km |
|---|---|---|
| Austin, before 9 Nov | 272 | 700 |
| Austin, from 9 Nov | 443 | 1,150 |
| San Antonio | 274 | 710 |
| Waymo, San Antonio | 59 | 150 |
Square miles from Robotaxi Tracker and Not a Tesla App. Square kilometres are our conversion, rounded.
A map is not a booking
The maps show the outer limit, not every address where a ride can start or end.
In Austin, Koby Pierce, who tracks the service, found the app accepted pickups and drop-offs in about 59 per cent of the advertised area. Across the six cities he checked, the share ran from 59 per cent in Austin to 78 per cent in Dallas.
Eight cities so far
Tesla said on its October results call that Robotaxi ran in six cities. Fort Worth joined a week before San Antonio, Not a Tesla App reported, so by our count San Antonio is the eighth.
Las Vegas, Phoenix and Jacksonville are the cities Tesla has named as coming next, Self Drive News also reported.
Rod Bland is the publisher and editor of Volts & Bots. He lives in Sydney and drives a Model Y L bought in Australia in 2026, with HW4 and FSD (Supervised). More about Rod Bland.