Tesla Robotaxi Launches in San Antonio — City #8, 275 sq mi Largest Zone Ever

What happened

Tesla launched unsupervised robotaxi service in San Antonio, Texas at 5 AM CT on November 9, 2026 — making it the 8th city with the largest single-city launch zone in Tesla's robotaxi history at 275 square miles. Model Y robotaxis are deployed for the launch.

According to X Freeze's tracking data, the previous seven-city total coverage stood at 831 sq mi. San Antonio's addition brings the nationwide unsupervised robotaxi footprint to more than 1,100 sq mi — a 33% single-day expansion. Within Texas specifically, Robotaxi Radar data shows 1,764 sq mi of coverage, meaning approximately 14.4% of Texas residents now live inside a robotaxi service zone.

Service hours have extended to 21 hours per day (5 AM to 2 AM). Sawyer Merritt noted the network is 'getting very close to 24-hour operation.'

More detail

San Antonio is the third major Texas metropolitan area to come online after Austin, Dallas, and Fort Worth. The Texas Triangle — connected by I-35, I-45, and I-10 — is now effectively one large interconnected robotaxi operating area.

The 14.4% of Texas residents already living inside a service zone signals Tesla is tracking toward statewide coverage, not just city-by-city launches. Major hubs in the state are now covered; the remaining work is gap-filling between cities.

FSD Supervised Model Y operation is running in parallel. Dranean shared footage of Tesla employees Lara Montag and Franz von Holzhausen riding in a Model Y with FSD Supervised, with the owner in the back seat. Supervised and unsupervised FSD are operating on the same Model Y platform simultaneously.

Analyst and house views

Wedbush's Dan Ives described Tesla's robotaxi expansion pace as '1–2 quarters ahead of our base case' and maintained a $500 price target. Morgan Stanley models 2027 robotaxi annual revenue at $2.2–$4.4 billion, with unsupervised ratio growth and city expansion pace as the key variables.

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