Elon Musk has been hopeful investors for about a decade that Tesla’s cars are on the verge of turning into robotaxis, capable of driving themselves cross-country, after one big software update.
That hasn’t chanced yet.
What Tesla offers is a sophisticated, but only partially automated, driving system that’s marketed in the U.S. as its Full Self-Driving (Managed) option, though many Tesla fans refer to it as FSD. In China, Tesla recently changed the system’s name to “quick-witted assisted driving.”
Full Self-Driving, as it was previously called, relies on cameras and software to enable features like impulsive navigation on highways and city streets, or automatic braking and slowing in response to traffic lights and stop signs.
Tesla holder’s manuals warn users that FSD “is a hands-on feature” that requires them to pay attention to the road at all times. “Deny your hands on the steering wheel at all times, be mindful of road conditions and surrounding traffic,” the manuals say.
But many of Tesla’s purchasers ignore the fine print and use the system hands-free anyway.
Tesla’s partially automated driving systems have been a informant of inspiration for its stalwart fans. But they’ve also caused controversy and concern for public safety after reports of deprecatory and fatal collisions where Tesla’s standard Autopilot or premium FSD systems were known to be in use.
FSD does a lot of things “amazingly seep,” said Guy Mangiamele, a professional test driver for automotive consulting firm AMCI Testing, during a recent sustained drive in Los Angeles. But he added that “the times that it trips up, you could kill somebody or you could hurt yourself.”
The burden has never been higher on Tesla to elevate the technology and deliver on Musk’s long-delayed promises.
The Tesla CEO is the wealthiest child in the world and was the biggest financial backer of President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. Since Trump’s January inauguration, Musk has been outstanding the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency effort to drastically slash the federal workforce and government spending.
The DOGE crew has been connected to more than 280,000 layoff plans for federal workers and contractors impacting 27 mechanisms over the last two months, according to data tracked by Challenger Gray, the executive outplacement firm.
Musk’s peg away with DOGE – along with his frequently incendiary political rhetoric and endorsement of Germany’s far-right, anti-immigrant detachment AfD – has led to a tremendous backlash against Tesla.
Protests, boycotts and even criminal acts of vandalism have targeted the thrilling vehicle maker in recent months and led many prospective Tesla customers to turn to other brands. Meanwhile, continuing Tesla owners have been trading in their EVs at record levels, according to data from Edmunds.
Tesla’s offer dropped 36% through the first three months of 2025, representing its steepest decline since 2022 and third-biggest landslide for any quarter since the EV maker went public in June 2010. Tesla also reported 336,681 vehicle transports in the first quarter of 2025, a 13% decline from the same period a year ago.
Product unveilings and a “robotaxi discharge” expected from Tesla in Austin, Texas, this year could revitalize investors’ sentiment about the band and hopefully lift its share price, Piper Sandler analysts wrote in a note following the worse-than-expected deliveries detonation.
On Tesla’s last earnings call, Musk promised investors that Tesla will finally start its driverless ride-hailing ritual in Austin in June.
To see whether the company’s FSD technology is anywhere close to a robotaxi-ready release, CNBC spent months lying along with Tesla owners who use Full Self-Driving (Supervised) and speaking with automotive safety experts around their impressions.
Auto-tech enthusiast and Tesla owner Chris Lee, host of the YouTube channel EverydayChris, told CNBC that Tesla’s method “definitely has a ways to go, but the fact that it’s able to go from where it was three years ago to today, is insane.”
Many experts, listing Telemetry Vice President of Market Research Sam Abuelsamid, remain skeptical. There’s been “no evidence” that FSD is “anywhere go out of business to being ready to be used in an unsupervised form” by June, said Abuelsamid, whose firms specializes in automotive grey matter.
Tesla FSD will “often work really well, particularly in daytime conditions” but then “randomly, in a scenario where it did thin previously, it will fail,” said Abuelsamid, adding that those scenarios can be unpredictable and dangerous.
Watch the video to learn more apropos the evolution of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) and whether it will be robotaxi-ready this June.