Tesla Robotaxi appears to be gearing up for Vegas launch

Tesla is ramping up to begin robotaxi service in Las Vegas, with more of the gold-colored vehicles that will be used for the service being spotted around Southern Nevada.

Tesla applied for an autonomous vehicle network permit with the Nevada Transportation Authority, which if approved, would allow the company to provide commercial autonomous vehicle ride hailing in the Las Vegas Valley, according to state spokeswoman Teri Williams.

Tesla’s application was made public last week by the NTA and will now go through the review process.

“It could take some time to work through the staff review process before they make a recommendation to the full Authority to deliberate during a General Session,” Williams said in an email.

Tesla Robotaxi is also spending $3.1 million to retrofit a 37,000-square-foot industrial building in the southwest valley at 6170 Mohawk St., according to Clark County records. The work includes adding eight superchargers and six car lifts inside the building.

Tesla Robotaxi has a pair of business licenses from Clark County, with one tied to the Mohawk building, issued on June 2, listing the service as auto wash and detailing. The other Tesla Robotaxi business license is associated with a building at 3338 Fremont St., issued on Feb. 10, for administrative and support services.

Tesla applied for a state business license for Tesla Robotaxi LLC late last year, with the company’s corporate headquarters in Austin, Texas, listed as the address for the licensee.

Hiring

Tesla is hiring two positions relating to its robotaxi service, including a nighttime supervisor and a nighttime fleet support specialist, both based out of Las Vegas.

The approval of Tesla Robotaxis being allowed to begin offering paid rides would build off the company’s previous approval to test autonomous vehicles in the state last year.

The Nevada Department of Transportation in approved Tesla’s autonomous testing to begin in September, but the approval didn’t greenlight commercial operations.

‘Cautious approach’

In a Tesla earnings call last summer, Tesla owner Elon Musk said the company was working to obtain regulatory approval for robotaxi operations in multiple areas, including Las Vegas.

Tesla Robotaxi service is available in Austin, Dallas and Houston, and in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In an April Tesla earnings call, Musk said he expects to have robotaxis and full self-driving vehicles operating in about a dozen states by the end of this year, but he did not say where.

“We’re taking a very cautious approach to the rollout here,” Musk said during the investor call. “We haven’t had any injuries and certainly no fatalities to date with the unsupervised FSD and robotaxi expansion. We want to keep it that way. I think probably unsupervised FSD or robotaxi revenue will not be super material this year, but I do think it’ll be material probably in a significant way next year.”

At the time of the approval last year, Tesla was hiring for a position centered around collecting data from self-driving testing, based at a Henderson office space Tesla has in Green Valley Ranch.

Vegas Loop

Aside from the Tesla Robotaxi venture, Musk has also been busy in Las Vegas since 2021 launching the Boring Co.’s Vegas Loop operation.

What started as a test system offering rides for trade show attendees at the Las Vegas Convention Center is slowly expanding to resorts around the center’s footprint. Resorts World, Encore, Westgate and Fontainebleau have Boring Co. stations.

Crews are wrapping up construction of dual 2.1-mile tunnels under Paradise Road between the convention center and land the Boring Co. owns across University Center Drive from the Thomas &Mack Center.

Boring Co. President Steve Davis told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he expects the tunnel portion to open before the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix in November. The Paradise line features plans for multiple stations, including at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, that would serve racegoers this fall.

Further expansion plans are also underway, with Boring Co. planning to extend into downtown Las Vegas and to MGM Grand and Park MGM properties. A line from land Wynn owns across Las Vegas Boulevard from the gaming giant’s Wynn Las Vegas and Encore properties to Caesars Palace is also in the planning stages.

At full build-out, the Vegas Loop is planned to include 68 miles of tunnels and 104 stations across the Strip, in downtown and at various sites of interest including Chinatown, Allegiant Stadium and near Harry Reid International Airport.