Newly unredacted information from the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration (NHTSA) suggests no less than two Tesla robotaxi crashes which have occurred since July 2025 occurred whereas automobiles have been being remotely pushed by teleoperators, TechCrunch reviews. All self-driving automobile corporations are purported to report crashes to the NHTSA, however up till this level Tesla has requested the regulators to redact parts of its information to guard confidential enterprise info.
Each crashes occurred in Austin, Texas, the place Tesla first began providing robotaxi rides in June 2025, and each occurred whereas a security monitor was behind the wheel and no passengers have been onboard. In a single July 2025 crash, TechCrunch writes, after a security monitor requested help, a distant operator took over, elevated the velocity of the robotaxi after which drove it “up the curb and made contact with a metallic fence.” In one other from January 2026, a distant operator assumed management and “made contact with a short lived barricade for a development website at roughly 9MPH.”
Tesla first shared with lawmakers that it permits distant operators to drive its robotaxis in March 2025. Whereas different autonomous driving companies depend on distant monitoring, these distant employees are usually consulting with the driving software program, not driving the automobiles themselves. Not all of Tesla’s crashes have concerned teleoperators. TechCrunch noticed two crashes the place Tesla robotaxis unintentionally clipped mirrors on different automobiles. In a separate occasion, a robotaxi was unable to keep away from hitting a canine that bumped into the road. Fortunately, the canine survived.
Based mostly on a current Reuters report, the robotaxi service can also be struggling to beat lengthy wait occasions. “A reporter utilizing the service in Dallas on a current Monday afternoon spent almost two hours to take what usually could be a 20-minute drive from the campus of Southern Methodist College to Dallas Metropolis Corridor, about 5 miles (8.05 km) south on a serious freeway,” Reuters writes. Reporters additionally famous a number of cases the place robotaxis would drop off riders quarter-hour away from their vacation spot, regardless of their desired drop-off level being in Tesla’s protection space.
Tesla is just not distinctive in having to cope with crashes and software program points. Waymo has or is actively coping with each. However the continued issues do counsel Tesla might have a protracted solution to go earlier than it is working on the scale of its competitor.
