Tesla stock hits 2025 high after Musk confirms Robotaxi tests

Tesla (TSLA) finally announced something investors have been waiting to hear for years.

Executives said the company is now testing driverless vehicles in Austin, Texas, with no occupants inside the cars. Elon Musk confirmed the tests in a post on X over the weekend, offering few details beyond that.

The lack of elaboration didn’t matter. The implication did.

Shares closed at a 2025 high, rising 3.6% to $475.31, and pushing the stock within about 1% of its all-time record set last December.

This was the first time Tesla publicly acknowledged running vehicles with no one inside them.

The company’s Robotaxi-branded service launched in Austin in June, but until now it operated with safety supervisors or drivers in the vehicle. The confirmation that testing has moved beyond that phase—however limited—marked a clear step forward in Tesla’s long-running autonomy effort.

Texas has made that step easier. State law allows autonomous vehicle testing and ride-hailing on public roads as long as companies follow traffic rules, and transportation officials have limited authority to intervene. That regulatory posture has helped Austin emerge as Tesla’s preferred proving ground.

For more than a decade, Musk has promised that Tesla vehicles would become fully self-driving and operate as unmanned robotaxis. The company has yet to launch a commercial service without human supervision, and it still hasn’t said when it plans to do so—even in Austin.

Tesla also runs a ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area, but human supervisors remain in those vehicles as well. California regulators have said Tesla has not applied for permits to conduct driverless testing or operate a driverless robotaxi service in the state.

As of mid-October, Tesla reported seven collisions involving vehicles in its Austin Robotaxi fleet.

The company said none were severe. At the time, the fleet consisted of 30 or fewer vehicles, all operating with human safety supervisors present. Musk has said Tesla plans to double that number to 60 by the end of 2025.

Over the weekend, Tesla’s official account and its head of AI software, Ashok Elluswamy, amplified posts referencing over-the-air software updates and a video that appeared to show a driverless vehicle in Austin. The messaging was subtle, but deliberate.

Tesla’s autonomy push still trails competitors. Alphabet’s Waymo operates fully driverless services in multiple U.S. cities, while Baidu’s Apollo Go and WeRide have scaled robotaxi deployments across parts of Asia.

Texas regulations will tighten in 2026, when autonomous vehicle operators will need authorization from the state for commercial use. For now, Tesla has room to test.

What moved the stock wasn’t proof that Tesla has solved autonomy. It was confirmation that the company has crossed a threshold it’s talked about for years—putting cars on public roads with no one inside—and is now testing what comes next.

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