A Tesla Model Y Drove Itself 15 Miles To A New Owner’s Home—And We Have Questions

• Tesla has released a video of a new Model Y driving from the Giga Texas factory to an owner’s home in Austin.
• The total route seems to be around 15 miles; possibly a bit more, from the video.
• The new feature comes about a week after Tesla’s Robotaxi service also began in Austin.

First came the Robotaxis, now come the Teslas themselves—straight to a new owner’s apartment in Austin, without anyone behind the wheel.

A week after debuting its autonomous taxi service in the Texas capital, Tesla has released a video purportedly showing the fully automated home delivery of a new Model Y. CEO Elon Musk had been promising this feature for some time, and on Friday, the automaker seemingly made good on it for at least one new owner. 

Tesla released two videos of the drive between the Giga Texas factory near the Austin airport and the owner’s apartment complex off South Lamar Boulevard. One is a sped-up version, while the other is the full-length one. A direct drive between the two locations covers about 15 miles and takes roughly 30 minutes.

This Model Y takes a more roundabout way to get there, cruising down Interstate 35 (and staying below 70 mph) before exiting onto Woodward Street and driving through South Congress Avenue—the same area where its Robotaxis have been running for several days.

“Kapow,” Musk commented on X, the social media platform he owns. On Friday, he claimed that no remote operation took place and that the car did this entirely on its own. 

The video indicates the Model Y was running the Robotaxi software during the delivery process, and it was then switched to the standard Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system available on Tesla’s other consumer cars. No Tesla you can buy is capable of true self-driving, and both FSD and Autopilot require human supervision and readiness to intervene if something goes wrong. 

The drive happens on a sunny and clear day in Austin and the Model Y is seen successfully navigating the highway, exits, pedestrians, various city streets and the entry into the apartment complex. 

On X, Tesla fans hailed the demonstration as a revelation and justification for the company’s technological pivot to autonomous vehicles. “If this doesn’t show that unsupervised FSD is ready for primetime, I’m not sure what else will,” one user posted.

“A milestone that profoundly redefines our human experience of time and space,” said another.

But whether this was a singular technical demonstration or will be a frequently used delivery system near Tesla’s factories—the company builds cars in Austin and in Fremont, California—has yet to be seen. After all, Tesla landed in hot water about a decade ago over the “Paint It Black” autonomy video that was later revealed to have been staged. 

The company’s autonomous driving technology has evolved since then. But as with everything related to FSD and the Robotaxi service, a number of questions remain.

For one, it’s unclear what might have happened—or could happen in the future—if an FSD-driven Tesla were to fail or malfunction along its route. Does remote intervention take place them, or would Tesla have to deploy a human driver to help recover the car, just as it uses safety monitors in the passenger seats of its Roboataxis now? It is also unknown just what its delivery and operating radius is when it leaves the factory, or what may happen in worse weather, as Tesla’s autonomy systems rely on cameras and AI over LIDAR or other sensor suites. 

It is also unclear how such a delivery tracks with local (and possibly upcoming federal) regulations, or what might happen in the event of a collision or other mishap. And as with other autonomous cars on the road, how other drivers or even emergency workers can “communicate” with it is uncertain. 

So far, Tesla’s Robotaxi service has been running between 10 and 20 Model Ys in a geofenced area of South Austin on an invite-only basis. The rollout has seen several mishaps thus far, including unexplained emergency hard stops and one concerning-looking aborted left turn. 

Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com