For over a year, Elon Musk has repeatedly claimed that Tesla was months away from launching a driverless robotaxi service in California, pending approval from authorities. However, documents from the California Department of Motor Vehicles and statements from a state spokesperson, never published before, show that in 2025 the US automaker has taken no formal action to obtain such approval. Records indicate zero miles of autonomous driving tests on California roads last year, for the sixth consecutive year.
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Tesla and autonomous driving
A figure that contrasts with the company’s public statements and highlights a discrepancy between market promises and actual activity in the largest US automotive market. In the Californian regulatory system, documentation of test miles is a fundamental requirement to obtain the permits necessary to operate a driverless ride‑hailing service similar to Waymo. Tesla, to date, only holds the basic-level DMV permit that allows testing with a human operator in the driver’s seat and has not requested the more advanced permits required for fully autonomous vehicles.
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Many promises. But the facts…
According to the DMV’s proposed regulation, which requires, among other things, at least 80.467 km of testing with a safety driver before being able to request the subsequent authorization, Elon Musk’s company has not recorded mileage with the authorities since 2019 and has documented only about 900 km in total since 2016. Conversely, Reuters reports, Waymo has covered over 21 million kilometers of testing and has obtained numerous regulatory approvals, becoming one of the few companies authorized to commercially operate driverless robotaxis in California.
