Nevada's transportation regulators have approved permits allowing Tesla to operate as many as 5,000 autonomous robotaxis across the Las Vegas area over the next year, a far larger allotment than the roughly 1,000 vehicles each authorized for rivals Waymo and Uber in the same market.
The approval marks one of the largest state-level driverless ride-hailing authorizations issued in the country to date and signals that Tesla intends to scale its robotaxi service well beyond the limited pilot it has run in Austin and parts of the Bay Area over the past year.
Las Vegas has emerged as a proving ground for autonomous vehicle operators thanks to relatively permissive state rules and a tourist-heavy market that generates steady ride-hailing demand around the clock. Tesla has framed robotaxis as central to its long-term growth story even as questions persist about the safety record and regulatory oversight of its self-driving software compared with lidar-based competitors.
Tesla has not detailed a rollout timeline for the full 5,000-vehicle fleet, and actual deployment is expected to ramp gradually as the company expands service areas and works through local licensing requirements.
