Key takeaways
- Elon Musk said on October 27 that Tesla’s Robotaxi race against Waymo “was never a real contest”, after Tesla drove 438,000 driverless miles in Austin in one week, slightly more than Waymo’s Austin average from the spring.
- Nationally, Waymo drives about 3.9 million rider-only miles a week, roughly seven times Tesla’s best week, in 15 metro areas and on freeways. Tesla’s miles also include trips where a remote operator helped.
- My view: Musk is right, it was never a contest. Waymo leads 7 to 1. One good week in one city is not a victory, and without an independent audit of Tesla’s data, I will not trust his words.
Elon Musk wrote on X on October 27 that Tesla’s Robotaxi race against Waymo “was never a real contest”. He was replying to a post claiming the battle for autonomous Austin “might already be over”. The claim rests on one number: Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet drove 438,000 miles with nobody in the driver’s seat in Austin in the week ending October 18, up 30% in a single week, while Waymo averaged about 406,000 miles a week in Austin from April to June.
Nationally, the picture is the opposite. Waymo drove about 3.9 million rider-only miles a week in the second quarter, roughly seven times Tesla’s best week of 558,000 miles, and it has 271 million driverless miles in total against Tesla’s 3.1 million. Waymo operates in 15 US metro areas, including freeways, and on the same day announced nearly 250 square miles of new coverage in five cities. Tesla’s miles also include trips where a remote operator assisted or took control, while Waymo reports fully driverless miles.
| Waymo | Tesla Robotaxi | |
|---|---|---|
| Driverless miles per week (US) | About 3.9 million (Q2 average) | 558,000 (best week) |
| Total driverless miles | 271 million since 2020 | 3.1 million since January 22, 2026 |
| Metro areas | 15 | 6 without a driver, plus the Bay Area with a safety driver |
| Freeways | Yes | No |
| Paid rides per week | More than 500,000 | Not disclosed |
| Remote operator miles counted | No, rider-only miles | Yes, included |
| Independent safety study | Yes (IIHS) | No, self-reported |
In this article: “Never a real contest”? Agreed, Elon · Credit where it’s due · What Elon forgot to tell you · Black ink and trade secrets · The promise list · City hall learned it from a tweet · Nobody wrote about Waymo · I used to like Tesla · FAQ
“Never a real contest”? Agreed, Elon
For once, I agree with Musk. It was never a real contest. Just not in the way he meant it. One week, in one city, in one state, and he is already the winner. Waymo’s Phoenix, Los Angeles and Bay Area each drive more on their own than Tesla’s entire network. Even Waymo’s smallest tracked market, Atlanta, does about 250,000 miles a week, more than all Tesla cities outside Austin put together. Nationally, it is 7 to 1 for Waymo. Funny how that number never made it into his post.
Elon, can you just stop talking for once? You let a few cars drive without a driver for a week, they drove a little more in one state, and now you announce it was not even a contest. Honestly, you are becoming a joke.
Credit where it’s due
I don’t deny it: 30% growth in one week is real, and it fascinates me. A year ago, no Tesla in Austin carried the public with nobody inside. Today it does, and that is good. It is also good news that the Cybercab is multiplying fast: Texas has 463 of them registered, 337 added in the last 30 days.
But I have one question. If safety is being investigated right now, why are these cars on the road before we learn the truth? On the very day Cybercab rides opened to the public in Austin, September 3, the US safety regulator NHTSA opened an inquiry into how Tesla certified the car. Tesla has to answer under oath by October 30, two days from now. I am curious what we will learn. Will it be like the Cybercab that lost a door panel in a crash? Or will something happen and we will simply never find out?
What Elon forgot to tell you
Musk compared Tesla’s best week, in October, with Waymo’s average from the spring. Waymo publishes its data about three months after each quarter ends, so nobody knows its number for this week. I assume it may be even higher. Showing off with your single best week against someone’s old average: is that really rational?
He also forgot to tell people that his miles include moments when a Tesla remote operator helped or took over. Waymo reports fully autonomous driving. Maybe he forgot. Or maybe he is ashamed that it is not a fair game.
And in 2020, Musk wrote that Waymo was “a highly specialized solution”, while Tesla had “a general solution”. Today, Tesla Robotaxi drives only inside its zones, never on freeways, reportedly avoids railroad crossings, and its hours were only recently extended to 2 a.m. Tesla also just admitted it needs its own maps for FSD. Hiding, redoing and blacking out crash details: is that what you call a general solution? And the fans who laughed at Waymo for years for driving on mapped roads now cheer cars driving on mapped roads.
Remember the Cybercab ride in September that turned 10 minutes into a 70-minute detour, because the car would not take the highway? That was a show to laugh at. But people have short memories, or they don’t want to remember.
A Tesla shareholder writing for CleanTechnica calculated that if the miles keep growing 20% a week, Tesla would pass Waymo nationally in about 11 weeks. He seems to forget that Tesla does not have permission to drive everywhere Waymo drives.
Black ink and trade secrets
Here is the most important point. When there is a crash or something goes wrong, everyone is silent. When Tesla beats Waymo for one single week, in one city, Musk tells the whole world right away. We know why: the curve on the chart. Elon, that is pathetic.
In its crash reports to NHTSA, Tesla blacks out the descriptions of what happened as “confidential business information”. According to an analysis of NHTSA filings, Tesla also changed the severity of one crash five months after reporting it. Did it understand how serious it was, or was it afraid that one crash would blacken the big name Musk built as a showman, not as a businessman of the future?
And we already know what happens in court. In a fatal 2019 Autopilot crash in Florida, Tesla said it did not have key crash data. A hacker later found that the data existed, and in 2025 a jury found Tesla partly responsible and ordered it to pay $243 million. So when Tesla says it cannot give us the data, are we supposed to believe a man whose public speeches, in my opinion, are full of lies?
Tesla’s new Robotaxi safety report says zero injuries in 3.1 million miles. But that is only what Tesla claims. Independent companies that would audit it are not part of it. They are simply not let in.
Waymo at least played fair. An independent study by IIHS found about 68% fewer police-reported crashes than human drivers, and Waymo did not hide that in Austin the result was 4% worse than humans, on a small sample. That is decent. At least they don’t hide anything from us.
The promise list
Musk has been promising Robotaxi for years. The Cybercab was shown in October 2024. In May, we heard the first paying passengers in Houston would ride in it “within weeks”. Today, in Houston, there is not a single one. One thousand robotaxis by the end of this year? Promises have become the norm with Musk. We never know when it will happen, or if it will happen at all.
California still has not approved a driverless Tesla. Maybe the regulators there want more data. Or maybe they see what we see: that it is dangerous on the road, and when something happens, Tesla will hide behind trade secrets.
And unsupervised FSD for customers has now been pushed to the second quarter of 2027, and only inside Robotaxi zones. So all of you who blindly pay a subscription for FSD that does not exist, finally, good news: you can all move into a Robotaxi zone, and your car will drive itself for a few miles. Wow. What a Tesla effect.
What else can I add? He spreads honey around your mouth, and you fall for it. Musk’s new pay package includes a milestone of 10 million active FSD subscriptions and 1 million Robotaxis in operation. So when you pay for FSD, you are paying for Musk’s package. Bingo. Add everything Tesla has invested, everything it collects for FSD, and the pre-orders for a new Roadster that leaves a big cloud behind it and jumps like a skateboard doing a kickflip. That is advertising. But Elon, if you are doing advertising while Waymo leads 7 to 1, you don’t see reality from your own universe.
City hall learned it from a tweet
And now Musk shows his true face. Austin officials reportedly learned the timeline for the Robotaxi expansion from his post on X. Austin Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes said Tesla “has had no regard for public input or working with our city”. This is the man millions follow, and the way I see it, he shows everyone you can step over the law and nothing will happen to you. Why do the authorities do nothing? We keep hearing about investigations and checks, and then the authorities tell us: we know nothing, we read it on X.
Tesla stock jumped 4.7% after one of those posts. That only shows how gullible people are. The drama queen writes something on X, and they follow him blindly. I am afraid for the future when people believe such nonsense from a man with no tolerance for anyone. Sometimes he sounds like a man who has lost touch with reality.
I hope someone finally tells Musk: we don’t want promises, we want results. He will probably answer by deleting your X account.
Nobody wrote about Waymo
On the same day, Waymo added nearly 250 square miles of coverage in Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, San Diego and the Bay Area. Almost nobody wrote about it. Everyone sees only one post, which gave us pink glasses. In my opinion, Waymo is about ten steps ahead, in how many cities it drives and in how much safer it is than Tesla. Nobody sees it.
People look in only one direction. Maybe that is what social networks do today. And influencers only say what they are allowed to say, because otherwise nobody will invite them anywhere. So people are pumped full of misleading news. And Tesla fans pour dirt on everyone because of Musk, even when it is the truth. I assume, and it is only my assumption, that some of it is done by Tesla bots, not real people.
I used to like Tesla
I liked Tesla. But after this last period, I see only a threat on the roads. Until an independent audit of all the data says out loud that they fixed everything and we have nothing to fear, I will not support Musk’s words, and I will not trust Tesla.
Musk is right about one thing. It was never a real contest. Waymo just doesn’t tweet about it.
Also on Evolt News: Tesla Q3 2026: a factory of promises · Tesla Robotaxi speeding in school zones
Photo: 9yz, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
This article is opinion.
Tesla Robotaxi vs Waymo: FAQ
Did Tesla Robotaxi pass Waymo?
Only in Austin, and only for one week. Tesla drove 438,000 driverless miles in Austin in the week ending October 18, 2026, compared with Waymo’s Austin average of about 406,000 miles a week from April to June. Nationally, Waymo drives about seven times more.
What did Elon Musk say about Waymo?
On October 27, 2026, Musk wrote on X that Tesla’s Robotaxi race against Waymo “was never a real contest”.
How many miles does Waymo drive per week?
About 3.9 million rider-only miles a week in the second quarter of 2026, with more than 500,000 paid rides a week across 15 US metro areas.
How many miles has Tesla Robotaxi driven?
About 3.1 million miles without a safety monitor between January 22 and October 18, 2026, according to Tesla. The figure includes miles where a remote operator assisted or took control.
Is Tesla Robotaxi safer than Waymo?
There is no independent data for Tesla. Tesla reports zero injuries in its own safety report. Waymo’s data was studied by IIHS, which found about 68% fewer police-reported crashes than human drivers.
Sources: Electrek, Robotaxi Tracker, Tesla, Waymo, IIHS, CleanTechnica, Startup Fortune, NHTSA.
Our Take
Musk is right that it was never a real contest: Waymo leads 7 to 1 nationally, drives on freeways and in 15 metro areas, and lets independent researchers study its safety. Tesla’s growth is real, but one good week in one city is not a victory.
As long as Tesla blacks out crash details and grades its own safety, I will not trust Musk’s words. Show us an independent audit, Elon. Then we can talk about winners.
