Tesla stock jumps on "Driverless" claims, but video reveals a different story

Elon Musk made a big announcement on Friday that sent Tesla's stock price climbing. The CEO posted on X that Tesla started its Robotaxi drives in Austin, Texas, with "no safety monitor in the car." Investors loved the news. Tesla shares went up by over 4%, which added billions of dollars to the company's value. But a closer look at one of the first videos posted online revealed curious details.

Local observers spotted the so-called "driverless" electric cars on the road, and they noticed something interesting. Joe Tegtmeyer, a drone operator and Tesla observer in Texas, posted a video on X that shows the Robotaxis driving through the city. However, a black Tesla follows closely behind every single one. These trailing vehicles act as chase cars carrying the safety monitors who used to sit inside the Robotaxi.

My first unsupervised @robotaxi ride here in Austin! Come along with me on this 1st experience of driving around Austin with just me in the car and in the back seat!

Congrats to the @Tesla_AI team! 🤠👍 pic.twitter.com/YVJ19zp2qZ

— Joe Tegtmeyer 🚀 🤠🛸😎 (@JoeTegtmeyer) January 22, 2026

This setup suggests that Tesla did not actually remove the human safety net. The company simply moved the safety monitor into a second car. If the Robotaxi makes a mistake or gets confused, the person in the chase car is right there to help or stop the vehicle. This contradicts the idea of true autonomy.

True unsupervised autonomy means a car drives itself without any human help nearby. Waymo, a competitor in the autonomous vehicle space, operates this way. Waymo vehicles drive alone in several major cities, and they do not have chase cars following them. Waymo reports that its fleet has driven over 100 million miles (160 million kilometers) in fully driverless mode.

Tesla's current method in Austin is different. A chase car system is not a scalable business model. Paying for two cars and a human driver to complete one trip costs too much money. It defeats the purpose of a robotaxi, which is supposed to be cheaper than a regular ride-share because it does not need a paid human driver.

Elon Musk recently spoke in Davos, Switzerland, where he claimed again that Tesla has "solved autonomy." This is a promise he has made every year for the last six years. Critics argue that these announcements are marketing stunts designed to boost the stock price. Tesla's high value depends on investors believing that self-driving cars are ready for the public. When Musk says there is "no monitor in the car," he is technically correct. But he leaves out the important detail about the monitor following just a few feet behind.

The 4% rise in stock price shows that the market still reacts strongly to Musk's words. But the technology must match the claims for Tesla to succeed in the long run. If a human must still supervise the car - even from a trailing vehicle - the system is not yet ready for the real world.

The video evidence from Austin reminds us to look past the headlines. Tesla continues to test its electric cars, but the road to a truly driverless future is longer than the company admits. For now, the "ghost" driver is still very much real; they are just sitting in the car behind you. Hopefully, these are the very last stages before Tesla actually sets its Robotaxis truly free.

Via