Tesla IncPaid robotaxi miles fell 36% QoQ, indicating slower-than-expected autonomous progress.

Tesla’s paid robotaxi miles dropped to roughly 700,000 in the second quarter from about 1.1 million in the first quarter, a 36% decline, according to a company chart released Wednesday. The decline occurred even as Tesla expanded its robotaxi operation to six cities across Texas and Florida and likely counted paid miles in the San Francisco Bay Area, where its vehicles operate with safety drivers and lack state-required autonomous permits. CEO Elon Musk said on a conference call that the company needs to accumulate driving data specific to the Cybercab before scaling up, a shift from past claims that its fleet of nearly 10 million customer cars was already gathering training data. Tesla executives framed the slow progress as a safety precaution, with VP of AI Ashok Elluswamy noting over 380,000 miles driven without a safety operator and zero notable incidents, though the company has reported 22 crashes to the National Highway Safety Administration since starting trials. Musk and Elluswamy promised rapid scaling, citing roughly 10% weekly growth in unsupervised miles since late last year.
Tesla IncPaid robotaxi miles fell 36% QoQ, indicating slower-than-expected autonomous progress.