A concept of what the UI in the Robotaxi may look like
@dkrasniy
According to a report from Bloomberg (paywall), Tesla is planning to launch its Robotaxi network in Austin on June 12th. Bloomberg’s source noted that the date was still in flux, but this is the date Tesla is being planned around.
While the Robotaxi network may launch on June 12th, it’ll be exclusive to Tesla employees initially, allowing Tesla to iron out any issues.
The taxi network isn’t expected to open up to the public until late June at the earliest. During Tesla’s Q1 2025 Earnings Call, Elon stated that the Robotaxi service would only be available to the public in late June or early July.
June 12th is actually much sooner than we expected, so this is an excellent sign for Tesla, who typically pushes back events for finishing touches. The Robotaxi event, for example, was originally scheduled for August 8th but was rescheduled for October 10th.
The NHTSA recently reached out to Tesla, inquiring about how they’d handle certain scenarios, such as adverse weather conditions. This is a good sign that Tesla is satisfying those requirements.
Testing Happening Now
According to Bloomberg’s report, Tesla has already been operating test vehicles using FSD Unsupervised without a safety driver this week. A test engineer was in the passenger seat but did not intervene or provide any input.
Tesla has already been doing preliminary testing with employees in Austin and Los Angeles, but those have been with relatively small internal groups for the most part.
Tesla plans to launch the service with approximately 10 Model Y taxi vehicles initially, providing an opportunity to gather data and user feedback. According to Elon, in the weeks following the launch, Tesla will expand the program to more vehicles, with it hitting several thousand by late 2025.
Tesla recently started the Early Access Program for FSD users in Texas. It’ll be interesting to see how Tesla leverages these users to gather more data or help expand the program when Tesla is finally ready to provide FSD Unsupervised to vehicle owners.
Reducing Variables
There are a ton of moving parts involved in launching an autonomous taxi network, including insurance, cleaning, charging, and more. There’s no doubt Tesla is eliminating as many variables as possible, such as automated charging. While the Robotaxi will support wireless charging, these Model Ys are expected to be charged manually since Tesla hasn’t built the “snake” charger, and Model Ys don’t support wireless charging.
Tesla already has at least some Robotaxi code built into the Tesla app, so it seems like they’re lining up all the pieces.
While Tesla has been relatively focused on California and Texas, we’ve also spotted some Robotaxi mules making their way around Boston and New Hampshire, meaning that Tesla is already thinking about expansion or at least finding out what it’ll take.
We may just be a couple of months away from seeing a Robotaxi revolution in some American cities. While expanding to additional cities with varying weather conditions may be slow, Tesla will be out there proving what they’ve been promising since 2016.
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Tesla has updated its Tesla app for iPhones to version 4.45.0 and it adds a really helpful feature — Live Activities.
If you’re not familiar with Live Activities on iPhone, they’re essentially an interactive notification that displays real-time information. So, instead of receiving a notification that says that your vehicle has started charging, it’ll display real-time charging information.
What It Displays
Live Activities are displayed on your lock screen or Notification Center. With Tesla’s first implementation, it’ll display a variety of charging information when you’re Supercharging, such as the time until charging is complete, your current range, and the estimated cost.
The Live Activity will also display a photo of your vehicle with the color you’ve selected in the Colorizer feature, along with a charge meter, allowing you to easily see how much your vehicle is charged. The meter will be grayed out according to the charge limit you have set in your vehicle.
The “Charge” label of the notification shows your current range and will display the percentage or distance, depending on which metric you use in your vehicle.
In all, the feature will display all of these details:
Time left to charge completion
Charge/range in miles or percentage
Estimated cost
Current Supercharger power
Current Supercharger speed in mi/hr or km/hr
Total energy added in kWh
The battery meter is also different for the Cybertruck, featuring the same slash design on the battery meter as the vehicle uses on its internal display.
triduchuynh
What It Will Support in the Future
Tesla may soon support Live Activities for more than just Supercharging. While the feature doesn’t support home charging, or other third-party fast charging, there are other areas that will receive this real-time information.
One that is not often used but is just as crucial as Supercharging is roadside assistance. Tesla could add a Live Activity that keeps you updated without having to open the Tesla app. It could give you the current status, such as help dispatched or offer an ETA when help will arrive.
Tesla will soon introduce a Supercharger queue system, which will be utilized when Superchargers are at full capacity. When you arrive at a Supercharger, you’ll be able to join the queue so that you don’t have to line up your vehicle to form a line physically. Instead, you’ll join the queue and be notified when it’s your turn to charge, letting you relax or eat until it’s your turn. This will be especially useful when there’s a long wait at a Supercharger.
Code for Tesla’s virtual Supercharger queue system is already being added to the Tesla app, and Live Activity support will be included according to code found in a recent Tesla app.
What It Supports
Dynamic Island
Geonardo10inchi
The Live Activity is great, but what happens if you’re not on your lock screen? If your phone includes a Dynamic Island (iPhone 14 Pro and later, iPhone 15 and later, but not the iPhone 16e or the iPhone SE), then the Tesla app also shows a circular indicator with your current charge percentage and the estimated time remaining until charging is complete
Apple Watch
JohnH2k23
The Apple Watch is also receiving support for Live Activities in this update as well. It’ll display the same information as the dynamic island, letting you know how many more minutes you have until charging is complete.
Android Support
While Live Activities has been an iPhone feature for years, Android will be offering similar capabilities in an upcoming OS release. Android 16, currently in beta testing and expected to be released in Q2, will add support for rich notifications similar to Live Activities.
Adding live notifications for Supercharger is a great addition that we hope Tesla will support on Android soon after the feature is released.
Tesla has officially added ‘Child Left Alone’ detection to some of its newest vehicles. On cars equipped with a cabin radar, Tesla update 2025.14.12 adds the ability for the vehicle to warn the driver if a child has been left alone in the vehicle.
Cabin Radar
Tesla began equipping its vehicles with cabin radars several years ago, but it has only recently activated the hardware in update 2025.2.6. The cabin radar is being used for more than child detection. In the 2025.2 update, it was initially used to detect occupancy in the front seats, removing the need for separate seat sensors.
Tesla is now leveraging it also to detect occupancy in the rear seats. However, it does much more than just detect whether there’s someone sitting in the back seats of your vehicle.
What It Does
Tesla has stated before that the cabin radar will be able to detect the size of individuals. In addition to detecting the size, it’ll also be able to detect the child's heart rate and breathing.
According to the release notes, if the vehicle detects that a child has been left alone, the vehicle will flash its lights and play an alert, presumably through the external PWS speaker. It will also send a notification to your phone through the Tesla app.
We expect this to be the first iteration of this feature, as Tesla has previously said that the vehicle will also automatically enable its climate system and call emergency services if the driver doesn’t respond.
However, it seems like those features will come later, as Tesla’s release notes in this 2025.14.12 update state:
If an unattended child is detected, the vehicle will flash the exterior indicator lights, play an alert tone, and send a notification to your Tesla app. This will repeat at regular intervals until you return to your vehicle. Cabin data is processed locally and is not transmitted to Tesla.
This feature is enabled by default. To disable, go to Controls > Safety > Child Left Alone Detection.
Supported Models
This feature requires the vehicle to have a cabin radar, which Tesla has included for several years now. However, it’s not available on all models. Tesla is initially only supporting the 2024+ Model 3 initially, but it’ll be available on other supported models in the future.
While other vehicles also include a cabin radar, the part number differs between models, so it’s not clear which models will end up receiving this feature. Right now, 2024+ Model 3s are receiving the feature, and the new Model Y and Cybertruck also feature the same cabin radar and are expected to receive this upgrade later.
The feature is currently only rolling out to new Model 3s in Europe, but Tesla has already stated that other regions will follow.
Calling Emergency Services
Tesla has stated that the vehicle will automatically call emergency services if it detects a child in the car and the driver fails to respond to alerts. While this capability doesn’t appear to be included in this specific update, it may not be available in North America at all, as these vehicles don’t have eCall capabilities.
While Tesla added the ability for the vehicle to call 911 over Bluetooth in the event of a crash, it’s unlikely that a phone would be connected via Bluetooth in this situation.
We hope that Tesla can contact emergency services through an alternative method or add eCall capabilities to vehicles in North America.
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