Update, August 18, 2026: These Christmas Eve posts were executive / test rides, not the start of paid unsupervised Robotaxi. Tesla’s public “no safety monitor in the car” line for riders came on January 22, 2026 — Tesery’s Austin monitor timeline walks that clock. Later Tesery put the running Austin fleet around 20 cars.
On December 24, 2025, Elon Musk wrote that a Tesla with no safety monitor and Musk in the passenger seat drove him around Austin on Sunday with “perfect driving.” Tesla AI VP Ashok Elluswamy replied with a video of himself in the rear seat and an empty front row: “It’s an amazing experience!” Primary posts: Musk and Elluswamy.
That is two Tesla leaders describing empty-driver-seat rides. Musk was still in the car (front passenger). Ashok’s clip shows no one up front. Neither post is a city permit, a fleet count, or proof unsupervised FSD is “solved” for every owner Model Y.
Key facts
- When: Christmas Eve 2025 posts about a Sunday Austin ride.
- Musk: No safety monitor; he sat in the passenger seat.
- Elluswamy: Video from the back; front seats empty.
- Earlier that month: Musk (Dec. 9) said Austin Robotaxis would run with no one aboard in about three weeks. Mid-December CNBC: Tesla said testing with no occupants was underway.
- What it is not: Paid unsupervised Robotaxi for the public (that claim came January 22, 2026, on some cars).
A Tesla with no safety monitor in the car and me sitting in the passenger seat took me all around Austin on Sunday with perfect driving
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2025
Open Musk’s original X post. Ashok’s video: Open Elluswamy’s original X post.
Empty driver seat ≠ unsupervised product
A safety monitor is a Tesla employee who can grab the wheel. Removing that person while an executive sits in another seat is a test configuration. Removing everyone, then selling that ride in the app, is the product step. Tesla mixed those steps in marketing. This Tesery rewrite keeps them apart.
Teleoperation can still exist when the front row is empty. Tesery later covered NHTSA disclosures on teleoperator-controlled Robotaxi crashes. Empty seats are not an empty control room.
FAQ
Did Musk ride with nobody else in the car?
His post says he was in the passenger seat. Ashok’s video is the empty-front-row clip.
Did this start public unsupervised Robotaxi?
No. January 22, 2026 is when Musk said unsupervised Austin rides had just started, on some vehicles.
Is this Cybercab?
These clips are Model Y-class Robotaxis. Cybercab is the two-seater. See Tesery’s South Lamar mule sighting.
For owners: an exec video from Austin does not remove your duty on FSD (Supervised).
Featured photo: a 2025 Tesla Model Y (file photo of the Austin Robotaxi vehicle type). Image via Wikimedia Commons.
Related: Musk’s Dec. 9 “three weeks” monitor promise · Austin citywide map, ~20 cars · NHTSA teleoperator Robotaxi crashes · Cybercab mules on South Lamar
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