Tesla launched its Robotaxi Service in San Antonio, Texas, on November 9 at 5:00 a.m. Central Time, bringing its autonomous ride-hailing network to an eighth U.S. city1,2,16. The company also expanded its Austin geofence by 178 square miles to nearly 450 square miles on the same day, according to Tesla Robotaxi Tracker6.
Largest debut footprint
The San Antonio service area covers approximately 275 square miles, making it Tesla's largest geofence at any city's launch5,9. That edges out Austin's 272-square-mile zone at launch and dwarfs early Florida deployments: Miami launched at 30.8 square miles and Tampa at 23.6. The zone covers downtown San Antonio and nearly everything inside Loop 410, extending north to Loop 1604 between Interstate 10 and U.S. 28114. San Antonio International Airport sits inside the geofence, though Tesla is not currently offering airport pickups or drop-offs. Tesla Robotaxi Tracker puts the zone's coverage at about 1.0 million residents, or 51% of the metro, and 721,000 jobs15.
Tesla's first Robotaxi Safety Report, published October 21, 2026, had named San Antonio alongside Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Jacksonville as near-term expansion targets. Tesla had already secured a City Council-approved parking lot near San Antonio International Airport for fleet charging and had been building out charging infrastructure on Josephine Street near Pearl.
Tesla did not disclose the San Antonio fleet's hours of operation, vehicle count, or whether human safety monitors would be on board11. The company also did not say whether San Antonio would receive its two-seater Cybercab or modified Model Y vehicles. Tesla's full city list now spans Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa10.
Fleet scale and the advertised-vs-actual gap
Fleet sizes vary sharply across the network. According to Texas vehicle registration data and Tesla Robotaxi Tracker, Tesla has more than 400 registered autonomous vehicles in Austin, with more than 300 Cybercabs among them17. Fort Worth had 24 vehicles, and Miami had five. Tesla launched its first robotaxi service in Austin in June 2025 with human safety operators on board. In January, the company removed those operators in Austin, beginning fully driverless operations.
A separate analysis found that Tesla's actual pickup and drop-off zones in Texas run 22% to 41% smaller than the advertised geofences. In Austin, an independent check found the Robotaxi app accepted pickups and drop-offs in about 59% of the zone Tesla advertises.
The San Antonio launch follows the Fort Worth opening on November 2 and recent expansions of the Houston and Austin geofences.
Waymo overlap
Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., already operates driverless rides in San Antonio with a service area of about 59 square miles4. The San Antonio Express-News reports Tesla's 275-square-mile zone is roughly four times larger than Waymo's 60-square-mile service area. Waymo became available in San Antonio in February and opened to all riders in October, including airport trips. Waymo recently resumed operations in San Antonio after a five-month pause that followed incidents in which its vehicles became stuck on flooded roads. Waymo uses driverless Jaguar I-Pace and Zeekr RT vehicles in Texas.
A KSAT reporter tested the San Antonio service on launch day, noting the app placed his pickup location a block or two from his starting point and that the vehicle detected his seatbelt status before moving7.
ANALYSIS San Antonio is the fourth Texas city where Tesla and Waymo now field competing robotaxi services. The expansion from Miami's 30.8-square-mile launch zone to a 275-square-mile San Antonio debut traces a steeper deployment curve, though fleet sizes outside Austin remain small relative to the geofences they serve, and the gap between advertised and bookable zones tempers the headline square-mileage figures.