Elon Musk recently claimed that Tesla has begun conducting “unsupervised self-driving trials internally.” The statement, however, was made during a casual gaming stream on X (formerly Twitter), so it’s worth approaching it with caution.
On a Tuesday afternoon, Musk, who juggles roles as CEO of Tesla and several other companies, spent over an hour streaming himself playing video games. During the stream, fans seized the opportunity to ask questions, including one about Tesla’s ongoing efforts in autonomous driving.
He said:
Tesla Full Self-Driving unsupervised, maybe I’ll mention, we are going to [correct himself], we actually are doing trials of that with Tesla employees already and we expect to have that in commercial service sometime this year, which I mentioned at the last earnings call.
He had said two things at the last earnings call. He did indeed claim that Tesla would launch its “unsupervised Full self-Driving” capability in California and Texas around Q2 2025.
He also said that Tesla started testing its robotaxi ride-hailing app with employees in the Bay area:
We have Tesla employees in the Bay Area. We already are offering ride-hailing capabilities. So, you can actually — with the development app, you can request a ride, and it will take you anywhere in the Bay Area.
Elon Musk added that Tesla’s test program still involves “safety drivers” behind the wheel, making it consistent with the current “Supervised Full Self-Driving” system, a Level 2 driver-assist feature. The focus appears to be on testing ridesharing features within the app, rather than introducing a new version of Tesla’s self-driving technology.
This aligns with regulatory requirements in California, where a specific permit is necessary to operate self-driving vehicles—even for testing. So far, no evidence has surfaced of Tesla applying for such a permit.
Despite his use of the term “unsupervised” self-driving, Musk’s comments suggest that the trials remain under human supervision, much like Tesla’s existing approach.
