Tesla’s First Fully-Autonomous Car Drove Itself to Its Texas Owner

Elon Musk on Friday announced Tesla had accomplished a major self-driving milestone: The company’s first fully autonomous Model Y drove itself to its new home.

“The first fully autonomous delivery of a Tesla Model Y from factory to a customer home across town, including highways, was just completed a day ahead of schedule!!” Musk said in a post on X.

Tesla’s much-anticipated launch of its Full Self-Driving technology has been repeatedly delayed over the years. Musk initially promised Tesla’s cars would demonstrate full autonomy by the end of 2017. Despite the persistent delays, the Model Y delivery still marks a major success for the company.

Musk, in his posts on X announcing the feat, added: “There were no people in the car at all and no remote operators in control at any point. FULLY autonomous! To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fully autonomous drive with no people in the car or remotely operating the car on a public highway.”

While the Model Y’s highway voyage makes it among the first passenger vehicles to drive itself on an interstate without a human operator, Waymo autonomous cars were granted regulatory approval to start testing their driverless capabilities on freeways in 2024, according to their website — however, while testing is underway, Waymo’s robotaxis can’t take riders on the highway yet.

Self-driving freight trucks from Aurora have also been operating in Texas since early May, including traversing Interstate 45, where the typical speed limit is between 70 and 75 miles per hour.

Ashok Elluswamy, a Tesla engineer, said in a separate post on X that the Model Y achieved a maximum speed of 72 miles per hour on the highway.

Responding to Elluswamy, Musk said the pace was “Zippy!”

The exact route that the Model Y took or the speed limits along the way were unclear.

Representatives for Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.