Musk Claims Tesla Robotaxi Win Over Waymo in Austin, but Waymo Still Drives 7x More Miles Nationwide

Elon Musk declared Tesla’s Robotaxi race against Waymo “was never a real contest” after Tesla’s driverless fleet logged 438,000 miles in Austin in a single week, narrowly surpassing Waymo’s 406,000 weekly average in the city. However, that Waymo figure is four months old, and the comparison covers only one city for one week. Across the United States, Waymo still operates about seven times more driverless miles than Tesla every week, underscoring the gap in scale between the two autonomous vehicle programs. The Austin numbers highlight Tesla’s rapid ramp-up in a key test market, but they don’t reflect broader deployment. Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, has been running commercial robotaxi services in multiple cities, including Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, while Tesla’s driverless operations are still in early expansion. For investors and riders, the real measure is not a single-week city snapshot but sustained, nationwide driverless mileage, where Waymo remains far ahead.