Authorities launch investigation into Tesla robotaxi traffic violation on first day of service
It was discovered that Tesla had violated traffic laws by driving straight into oncoming traffic in a left-turn lane in Austin, Texas, on the first day that the company launched its robotaxi service. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it was aware of the accident and was gathering information from Tesla.
Tesla Robotaxi Videos Show Speeding, Driving Into Wrong Lane (TSLA) - Bloomberg
The traffic violation occurred when Rob Mauer, an investor who has been broadcasting a Tesla-related podcast for seven years, was riding in a robotaxi. Mauer recorded the entire behavior of the robotaxi from boarding to getting off, and has made the footage available to X, so you can see the whole story of what happened this time.
Here's my entire first Tesla Robotaxi trip from start to finish. Ten miles across south Austin. Timestamps in comments. pic.twitter.com/cr6y4z1UWB
— Rob Maurer (@TeslaPodcast) June 22, 2025
The video begins with Mauer getting into a taxi. Since it's the first day, there's an emergency operator in the passenger seat, but he's basically just riding with the driver and doesn't operate anything.
The destination is shown on the display facing the back seat, and when you tap 'START RIDE' the taxi will depart.
The journey takes approximately 17 minutes.
The pickup point appears to be a residential area, and there are road bumps to slow down the vehicles, but the robotaxi carefully slows down to pass through them.
We headed out into the city. As I watched, the robotaxi not only used its blinker when turning right or left, but also when changing lanes early, giving the impression that it was a very careful driver.
The problem occurred about 7 minutes into the video, when the robotaxi turned on its left turn signal and entered the left turn lane.
I just continued on, following the black car in front of me.
However, the route displayed on the navigation system suddenly changed from 'turn left' to 'go straight.'
The next moment, it's time to turn left again.
The vehicle's course changes suddenly between going straight and turning left, and the steering wheel is turned left and right accordingly.
Without turning left, the vehicle reached the left turn lane where oncoming traffic should have been.
Go straight across the yellow line.
The navigation system also seems to recognize that I am in the oncoming lane.
Continue straight into the left turn lane at the next intersection.
The vehicle then made the left turn as if nothing had happened. During this time, neither Mauer nor the operator spoke to him about this incident, and the operator did not appear to be alarmed when he suddenly steered the steering wheel left or right.
On the way, a warning message appeared on the navigation system saying 'External storage capacity is over 75%.' This does not seem to affect driving.
A car in the left-turn lane to the left of the robotaxi went straight through the intersection without turning left.
The driver cut in front of the robotaxi. Unexpectedly, the driver made the same mistake as the robotaxi.
After this, we arrived at our destination and Mr. Mauer got off.
NHTSA is aware of the accident that Mauer recorded and is currently gathering additional information from Tesla. It is not yet clear whether Tesla or the passenger operator will face any charges in this case.
Tesla has launched its robotaxi business with around 10 Model Y SUVs, and its stock price rose 8% in conjunction with the launch of the service.
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