Tesla has extended its Robotaxi operating hours in Austin by an hour, and the Cybercab fleet there is growing quickly. The official Robotaxi account announced on X that the service is now available until 11 p.m. in Tesla’s home city, and Elon Musk confirmed that closing hours have moved from the previous 10 p.m.
One More Hour, but Not 24/7 Yet
Tesla previously expanded Robotaxi hours in August, setting them from 6 a.m. through 10 p.m. This latest change only pushes the nighttime limit by an hour.
Tesla is still targeting 24/7 Robotaxi operations as early as this month, coinciding with the release of FSD v15 on Robotaxi vehicles. Extending operating time by just one hour this time around suggests Tesla is easing into it.
Musk also explained what’s holding things back. Identifying and avoiding pets and animals on the road is the main thing Tesla is trying to solve for nighttime driving, so the system knows how to deal with “grey kittens on grey tarmac in the dark,” as Musk explained it. He later added that Tesla is just being “extremely careful with autonomous safety.”
We are being extremely careful with autonomous safety, just as we are with making Teslas the safest cars in the world for human driving
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2026
Austin’s Cybercab Fleet Keeps Growing
The Cybercab fleet is growing much faster than the hours. During the week of September 21, registered Cybercabs jumped from 58 on Monday to 125 by that Friday, per Texas DMV data. Tesla also sent a Robotaxi app notification to riders in Austin that week saying the Cybercab fleet had doubled, and the fleet crossed 100 vehicles for the first time.
The pace has continued. Tesla added 111 Cybercabs over the span of the past two weeks alone, including 43 just between October 1 and 2. The total number of Cybercabs registered to operate in Austin now stands at 169 — nearly four times the number registered at launch, and no major issues have been reported since rides began a month ago.
Where Could Cybercabs Go Next?
Austin remains the only Robotaxi market where Tesla offers commercial rides in steering wheel-less Cybercabs. With the fleet now exceeding 150 vehicles, Tesla might have enough of them active to look at a second city.
Houston and Dallas are the obvious candidates, since both are nearby and already offer unsupervised Model Y robotaxi rides. Miami is another strong possibility, where a large Cybercab nest was spotted in recent weeks.
Watch for three things over the next few weeks: whether Robotaxi hours keep stretching later into the night, if FSD v15 arrives in time to make 24/7 service official, and how many more Cybercabs Tesla deploys in Austin before bringing them to another city.
