Tesla flexes incredible Robotaxi metric that skeptics will hate

Tesla Vice President of AI Ashok Elluswamy said during the company's Q2 Earnings Call on July 22, 2026, that Tesla's Robotaxi program has driven more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised ride-hailing across six cities in two states with zero notable incidents, validating the company's camera-only self-driving approach.

News https://www.teslarati.com/category/news/ Tesla flexes incredible Robotaxi metric that skeptics will hate Tesla flexed one incredible Robotaxi metric during the Q2 Earnings Call that skeptics have to hate to hear. The company’s platform has already driven more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised ride-hailing across several states with no notable incidents. During the company’s Q2 Earnings Call on Wednesday https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-tsla-q2-2026-earnings-results/ , Vice President of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, said: “First of all, I’d like to state that the Robotaxi program has been operating extremely well. Especially in terms of safety, the program has had an impeccable safety record. We have driven more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised Robotaxi, now across six cities in two different states. We have had zero notable incidents. Any reports have been of other actors impacting us when we were stationary. I like to emphasize how safe the operation has been so far. Zero notable incidents over 380,000 miles.” Elluswamy’s claim over Robotaxi miles is a significant milestone for Tesla in the grand scheme, especially considering this is a sizeable number of miles without any incident. 0 notable incidents across over 380,000 miles traveled by Robotaxi — Tesla @Tesla July 22, 2026 Tesla’s self-driving approach https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-vision-pure-vision-camera-fsd-europe-middle-east/ is much different than that of other companies. Tesla has maintained that vision is the only thing needed to have a solid and effective self-driving suite. Many self-driving companies utilize things like LiDAR, sensors, and other elements to improve performance, but Elluswamy sent a jab at those who believe it’s needed. “Historically, the so-called experts have always claimed that you need LiDARs, radars, HD maps, and the entire kitchen sink to drive safely. Here we show that such is not true. You can have safe, comfortable, and affordable autonomy with just cameras. This record should be a huge validation of Tesla’s entire AI approach.” The feat of accumulating this many miles without any driver behind the wheel is impressive. The thing is, Tesla is also doing this across several different locations, with varying traffic rules, pedestrian levels, weather patterns, and other important factors. While Tesla is not ready to roll out an unsupervised platform completely https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-confirms-robotaxi-safety-monitor-removal-austin-heres-when/ , it is a slow but steady indication that the company is well on its way to figuring things out. The company’s attitude toward expansion is slow, safe, and controlled, and despite this huge milestone, it will still be some time until we see Tesla truly unleash unsupervised rides more aggressively. Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com mailto:joey@teslarati.com . He is also on X @KlenderJoey https://x.com/klenderjoey . If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com https://shop.teslarati.com/ Elon Musk https://www.teslarati.com/category/elon-musk/ SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before SpaceX’s Starship flew successfully Friday, landing both stages and deploying its first Starlink V3 satellites. Starship’s thirteenth test flight delivered exactly what SpaceX needed with a clean liftoff, two successful stage recoveries, and the first real payload the vehicle has ever carried to space. Booster 20 and Ship 40 lifted off at 5:51 p.m. CT from Starbase, and by the time the mission wrapped roughly an hour later, both halves of the rocket had done exactly what they were supposed to do. Booster 20 separated from Ship 40 a few minutes into the flight and stuck a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about six minutes after liftoff. That is a meaningful turnaround from Flight 12 in May, when the booster lost several engines during its boostback burn before a hard water landing attempt. Starship as seen from Starlink satellites pic.twitter.com/e2hvfmnewh — Elon Musk @elonmusk July 25, 2026 Starship 40’s performance was arguably the bigger win. The vehicle deployed the first 20 operational Starlink V3 satellites Starship has ever carried, then flew a suborbital arc to a landing in the Indian Ocean that SpaceX commentator Dan Huot called the company’s softest splashdown yet. “This is a dream scenario for this team that’s trying to get this heat shield data,” Huot said on the live broadcast, according to Space.com’s live coverage. “I’m a little over the moon right now. Wow. Lucky number 13.” Unlike the mass simulators SpaceX flew on Flight 12, these were production Starlink V3 satellites, meant to extend solar arrays and antennas and attempt to link with the broader constellation before reentering minutes later. Getting real hardware through a full deploy sequence on only the second flight of the V3 generation keeps Starship on schedule for the payload work NASA is counting on for future Artemis lunar landings. What an awesome launch, really seems like everything went super well and it was all incredibly smooth. SpaceX is awesome. Very interested to see how the market will respond on Monday pic.twitter.com/KSHmyBfV55 — TESLARATI @Teslarati July 25, 2026 — TESLARATI @Teslarati July 25, 2026 https://x.com/Teslarati/status/2080806318147842406?ref src=twsrc%5Etfw The flight also arrives at a moment when SpaceX needed a win. SPCX has traded below its $135 IPO price since mid-July, as Teslarati reported https://www.teslarati.com/elon-musk-sends-first-warning-spacex-spcx-short-sellers/ when the mission slipped to Friday, and short interest has climbed to roughly a third of the tradable float. A clean flight will not fix a balance sheet, but it does answer the one question SpaceX absolutely needed answered this week: whether the fixes made after the July 16 abort would hold up under real flight conditions. They did, on both stages, on the first try after the redesign. SpaceX has not set a target date for Flight 14, though the company has said it wants to push toward an orbital attempt on the next mission. After Friday, that goal looks a lot more within reach. News https://www.teslarati.com/category/news/ Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations Tesla’s Supercharger Diner in Los Angeles dominated the company’s global usage rankings after just one year, proving the concept is more than just a one-off novelty location that will fade away. The performance could incite the company to build more locations https://www.teslarati.com/elon-musk-signals-expansion-tesla-unique-side-business/ , something that CEO Elon Musk has hinted at for some time. Tesla’s Supercharger Diner delivered 21.2 GWh of energy in its first year of operation, the company’s head of Charging, Max de Zegher, revealed on X. Of the top 10 most utilized Supercharger locations in Tesla’s global infrastructure, the Diner in Los Angeles was the most used by drivers https://www.teslarati.com/elon-musk-signals-expansion-tesla-unique-side-business/ , and it wasn’t particularly close: Tesla Diner opened exactly 1 year ago. Inspiring that futuristic places like this exist. It’s our highest usage Supercharger in the world: 21.2 GWh delivered in a year, 1.6k sessions/day. Top 10 Superchargers by energy delivered: https://t.co/9YvJ8lw696 pic.twitter.com/koB3AUJHws — Max @MdeZegher July 21, 2026 On its launch day one year ago, nobody was too sure what the Tesla Diner would be about. It seemed like an interesting concept, and considering it had been in the works for years, it was a highly anticipated launch that many were looking forward to. Based on its success, we could see additional Diners with Superchargers built throughout the United States, and potentially beyond https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-diner-defies-doom-narrative-profitable-popular-here-stay/ . Musk has said on several occasions that the company would be willing to bring the Diner idea to more markets. Tesla makes major change at Supercharger Diner amid epic demand Of the markets that Musk has mentioned, both Palo Alto and Austin have come to be perceived as ideal selections. However, there are no concrete plans as of now to build new Supercharger Diners anywhere; the location on Santa Monica Boulevard will remain the exclusive spot to pick up Tesla-inspired eats, at least for the time being. Investor's Corner https://www.teslarati.com/category/news/investors-corner/ Tesla short sellers win big after shares fall after earnings Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday. Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years. Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history. However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33 https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-tsla-q2-2026-earnings-results/ , a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected. S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026. Tesla TSLA Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-semi-fsd-self-driving/ many investors took their profits on Thursday. Notable short sellers like Michael Burry https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-tsla-latest-short-michael-burry/ have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post. At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.