Tesla Robotaxi users are reporting issues with the company’s routes as the company continues to expand its service in Texas.
Tesla announced on Monday that it has significantly expanded the Houston geofence, a designated area where passengers can hail robo-taxi rides, with a boundary line resembling the shape of a rocket — an apparent reference to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Musk said the two companies are exploring the possibility of a merger through a “special committee of independent directors.”
“Houston, we’ve taken off,” said an X post on Tesla’s Robotaxi account. “There’s a bigger service area now.”
According to a report by RobotaxiTracker, a third-party website that tracks the progress of autonomous vehicles in the United States, the new Houston service area is expected to increase by 229 square miles. That coverage pales in comparison to fellow city-based Waymo’s geofences, which only cover about 50 square miles.
However, some users have reported that robotaxi routes are unusually long and that not all sections of the new geofence are actually available.
Content creator and Tesla enthusiast Hy Luu posted a video on his Instagram showing his first ride in a Tesla Robotaxi, traveling from home to the office — a roughly 13-mile drive.
In the video, he said the car took about 25 minutes to arrive. Pick him up at 8am and drop him off at 9:23am
Luu told Business Insider that his commute in his Tesla Model 3 (equipped with full self-driving (supervised)) usually takes about 45 minutes.
“I don’t think most people will use the service as much as they do now because of the longer wait times. The vehicle came and took a detour,” Lu told Business Insider.
A Tesla spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
In a post on Tuesday’s
In McKanna’s other posts, one route showed a three-hour walk to the pick-up point, while another showed it would take 40 minutes to reach two blocks in downtown Houston.
“I know they did this to get the starship shape, but it’s another bad experience point,” McCanna wrote of the recent expansion.
McKanna added in another post that aside from these issues, “the service in Houston feels really good,” with reasonable wait times, a large service area and a better ride experience than Waymo.
The routing problem isn’t unique to Tesla.
Business Insider previously reported that Alphabet’s Waymo appears to be avoiding certain roads to get to its destinations, despite faster options.
Self-driving taxis may exclude certain routes to avoid certain roads, such as those with railroad tracks, or avoid highways if they are not yet serviced, although these reasons do not account for all route choices.
Tesla has been working to expand its robotaxi service in recent weeks, following the deployment of its purpose-built two-door Cybercab on public roads in September.
Data from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles shows the company registered about 200 Cybercabs in the past week. This is separate from actively deployed cars.
Lu said in an interview that robotaxis are not common in Houston. He hasn’t tried Waymo yet.
“Houston is much bigger,” he said. “People typically drive 25 miles to get anywhere, so the commute is definitely much longer.”