Tesla has begun testing fully driverless vehicles without occupants in Austin, a major step toward the company’s autonomous driving goals and “Robotaxi” program.

Social media reports popped up over the weekend showing Tesla Model Y cars on the roads without anyone inside, navigating traffic, stopping at intersections, and moving through city streets and highways – seemingly with ease.

“This is actually happening,” X user DogeDesigner wrote in a caption alongside a drive-by flick of the empty Tesla.

CEO Elon Musk confirmed the activity going down in Austin in a direct reply on X, simply saying: “Testing is underway with no occupants in the car.”

Multiple similar sightings were reported in the days following, with videos and photos circulating on social media showing unoccupied Teslas in various parts of the state’s capital city. The cars appear to be standard production models that are equipped with Tesla’s advanced Full Self-Driving (FSD) software.

The testing updates in Austin build on Tesla’s ongoing efforts to deploy its Robotaxi services, which the company has been pushing forward since earlier pilot programs.

As previously reported by The Dallas Express in April, Tesla launched an introductory Robotaxi program in Texas and California, initially offering supervised ride-hailing services to a select group of employees in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area.

That roll-out program used modified Model Y vehicles and focused on testing the FSD system, mobile app functionality, vehicle allocation, and remote assistance operations. Early tests at that time had already racked up more than 1,500 rides and 15,000 miles.

The shift to unoccupied testing of their FSD taxis is another milestone in Musk’s progress toward expanding Tesla’s unsupervised autonomous operations. Austin continues to serve as a primary hub for the FSD efforts, given Tesla’s headquarters and Gigafactory in the city.

Tesla has long positioned its robotaxi goals as one of the company’s main priorities, with plans to eventually incorporate more “purpose-built” vehicles like the Cybercab, which, as previously covered by DX, was unveiled in Paris last year.

No major accidents involving the new unoccupied test vehicles in Austin have been reported to date. However, the company has not issued additional statements or details about the testing in Austin beyond Musk’s confirmation.