Tesla · Robotaxi · 2 Nov 2026
Tesla Robotaxi launches in Fort Worth with an estimated 143-square-mile zone, but it still hasn't passed Waymo in Texas
Tesla opened its Robotaxi service in Fort Worth from 6am Central on Monday, its fourth city in Texas. Tesla hasn't said how the Fort Worth cars are supervised, though an early rider called his car unsupervised. Posts on X today said Tesla's Texas fleet had overtaken Waymo's. The state registry says Tesla is still 15 cars short (as of 2 Nov 2026).
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The editor holds Tesla and SpaceX shares. Supercharged Daily is independent and not affiliated with either company. Nothing here is financial advice.
Robotaxi available in Fort Worth starting tomorrow, 6am
— Robotaxi (@robotaxi) November 2, 2026
What launched
Tesla's @robotaxi account announced the city at 11:36pm CT on Sunday, 1 Nov, with a single line and a map: "Robotaxi available in Fort Worth starting tomorrow, 6am." That puts the start at 6am CT on Monday, 2 Nov, which is 7am ET (4am PT). The map's "launch geofence" is centered on downtown Fort Worth. It reaches Saginaw in the north, Haltom City in the east, White Settlement in the west and the Benbrook and Forest Hill areas in the south. Tesla's AI chief Ashok Elluswamy reposted it. Tesla's Robotaxi page still listed only Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando and Tampa when I checked it on 2 Nov.
Tesla investor and commentator Sawyer Merritt posted video of what he called "one of the first Tesla Robotaxi rides in Fort Worth" at 9:13am ET (6:13am PT), describing the car as an "Unsupervised Model Y."
One of the first Tesla Robotaxi rides in Fort Worth, Texas. Unsupervised Model Y.
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) November 2, 2026
Is it unsupervised?
Tesla hasn't said. Neither the @robotaxi post nor any other Tesla post I found on 2 Nov says whether Fort Worth rides have a safety monitor on board or how they're watched remotely. "Unsupervised" is Merritt's description, based on his video. Tesla has used the word for other cities: its Q2 update said it "launched unsupervised rides in Miami, Orlando & Tampa in July."
Even where Tesla uses the word, it hasn't said whether anyone monitors its driverless cars remotely full time. Forbes columnist Brad Templeton raised that question on 28 Oct. Until Tesla says more, treat Fort Worth's supervision as unconfirmed.
How big the zone is
Tesla didn't publish a size. Merritt measured the geofences for the seven cities he counts as unsupervised, so treat these as his estimates rather than official figures:
| City | Zone (sq mi) |
|---|---|
| Austin | 272 |
| Houston | 254 |
| Fort Worth (new) | 143 |
| Dallas | 81 |
| Miami | 31 |
| Orlando | 26 |
| Tampa | 24 |
| Total | 831 |
Source: Sawyer Merritt's estimates, posted 2 Nov 2026. The total and shares are my own arithmetic.
On those numbers, Fort Worth launched bigger than neighboring Dallas, at 143 square miles to 81. The four Texas cities make up 750 of the 831 square miles, about 90%. And the three Florida cities together, at 81 square miles, cover less ground than Fort Worth alone.
For scale, the Census Bureau puts Fort Worth's land area at 347 square miles (2020) and its population at 1,028,117 (July 2025 estimate). The zone also spills into neighboring cities, so it isn't a clean share of Fort Worth. Merritt estimates Tesla's unsupervised zones now cover about 1% of the US population. He also called it Tesla's first new city in about three months. Both are his figures, not Tesla's.
The fleet count: close, but not past Waymo
Several viral posts today said Tesla's Texas fleet hit 1,244 and had moved ahead of Waymo. The first number is right. The second isn't.
Texas requires companies operating driverless vehicles commercially to get state authorization under Senate Bill 2807, a system the Texas DMV opened in April. Each company's authorized vehicles are listed publicly. I pulled both companies' full lists at about 3:30pm ET on Monday, 2 Nov (12:30pm PT), and compared them VIN by VIN with my 31 Oct snapshot. A re-check at 3:33pm ET returned the same totals.
| 31 Oct | 2 Nov | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tesla Model Y | 631 | 671 | +40 |
| Tesla Cybercab | 573 | 573 | 0 |
| Tesla total | 1,204 | 1,244 | +40 |
| Waymo Jaguar I-PACE | 863 | 863 | 0 |
| Waymo Zeekr RT | 396 | 396 | 0 |
| Waymo total | 1,259 | 1,259 | 0 |
Source: Texas DMV automated motor vehicle lists for Tesla Robotaxi LLC and Waymo LLC, as of 2 Nov 2026. All 40 new Tesla entries are model year 2026 Model Ys; the registry spells them "Modey Y." No vehicle came off either list. Registered doesn't mean on the road at any given hour, and the registry doesn't say which city a car serves.
So the gap is 15 cars, down from 55 on 31 Oct and 127 on 28 Oct, when I last wrote about the count. Tesla is at 98.8% of Waymo's Texas count (my math). Waymo hasn't added a car since 31 Oct. Every Tesla addition since 28 Oct has been a Model Y, and the Cybercab count has stayed at 573. Tesla's additions have slowed: 124 between 28 and 31 Oct, then 40 in the following two and a half days.
Two caveats matter. This is Texas only: Waymo said in a 17 Feb 2026 blog post that its fleet was 3,000 vehicles, and Tesla's Florida cars aren't in this registry. And the 40 new Model Ys can't be tied to Fort Worth from public data, even though the timing fits.
Why Fort Worth matters
With Fort Worth, Tesla now runs Robotaxi service on both sides of the Dallas–Fort Worth metro, and by Merritt's estimates Fort Worth's zone is already bigger than Dallas's. Austin and Houston are still the largest, at 272 and 254 square miles by his count.
What Tesla hasn't said matters as much. It hasn't given a vehicle count for Fort Worth, wait times, operating hours beyond the 6am start, or whether the zone will connect to Dallas's. Its Q3 update said the fleet had logged "nearly 2 million cumulative unsupervised miles, 8x growth in the quarter."
What's confirmed and what isn't
- Confirmed (Tesla, @robotaxi): Fort Worth rides available from 6am CT on 2 Nov, inside the mapped launch geofence.
- Confirmed (Texas DMV, 2 Nov): 1,244 Tesla vehicles authorized (671 Model Y, 573 Cybercab) against Waymo's 1,259.
- Estimates (Sawyer Merritt): a 143-square-mile zone, 831 square miles across seven cities, and about 1% of the US population covered.
- Unconfirmed: whether Fort Worth rides are unsupervised. An early rider says so; Tesla hasn't said.
- Not true yet: that Tesla has more authorized driverless cars in Texas than Waymo.
- Not disclosed by Tesla: how many cars serve Fort Worth, and how they're monitored.
More: Fort Worth in the Robotaxi tracker and Austin's 20-hour day.
Sources: Tesla Robotaxi on X (2 Nov 2026); Tesla Robotaxi page (checked 2 Nov 2026); Tesla Q2 update and Q3 update on X; Sawyer Merritt on X: ride video, zone sizes, population estimate and launch post; Texas DMV lists for Tesla Robotaxi LLC and Waymo LLC (2 Nov 2026); Texas DMV (21 Apr 2026); US Census QuickFacts; Waymo (17 Feb 2026); Forbes (28 Oct 2026). Figures as of 2 Nov 2026.
— Alex R
