New crash data highlights the slow progress of Tesla's robotaxis

Tesla Newly unredacted data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) suggests at least two Tesla robotaxi crashes that have happened since July 2025 occurred while vehicles were being remotely driven by teleoperators, Tech Crunch reports. All self-driving car companies are supposed to report crashes to the NHTSA, but up until this point Tesla has asked the regulators to redact portions of its data to protect confidential business information.

Both crashes occurred in Austin, Texas, where Tesla first started offering robotaxi rides in June 2025, and both happened while a safety monitor was behind the wheel and no passengers were onboard. In one July 2025 crash, TechCrunch writes, after a safety monitor requested assistance, a remote operator took over, increased the speed of the robotaxi and then drove it "up the curb and made contact with a metal fence." In another from January 2026, a remote operator assumed control and "made contact with a temporary barricade for a construction site at approximately 9MPH."

Tesla first shared with lawmakers that it allows remote operators to drive its robotaxis in March 2025. While other autonomous driving services rely on remote monitoring, those remote workers are typically consulting with the driving software, not driving the cars themselves. Not all of Tesla's crashes have involved teleoperators. TechCrunch spotted two crashes where Tesla robotaxis accidentally clipped mirrors on other vehicles. In a separate instance, a robotaxi was unable to avoid hitting a dog that ran into the street. Thankfully, the dog survived.