Tesla is rolling out its second update to its Robotaxi app after it launched the driverless ride-hailing service less than a month ago in Austin.

Among the changes, Tesla has expanded its service area, added walking directions to both the pickup and dropoff areas, added closing times for dropoff destinations, and allowed editing of your destination after booking a ride.

The new app version, Robotaxi 25.7.5, was rolled out on Monday morning. The biggest change is the near doubling of the service area, as Tesla expanded the possible travel region by a significant margin:

Tesla’s Robotaxi geofence in Austin grows, and its shape is hard to ignore

It’s no surprise Tesla decided to push the envelope with a new, interesting shape to the geofenced area that is hard to ignore.

The new region includes notable points of interest in Austin, most notably is the University of Texas at Austin. Tesla included the school, which has over 53,000 students, in this expansion, and it could be pushing the app and service to some of them in the coming weeks.

It’s a great addition as it is a highly concentrated area of the city, full of students and visitors.

Robotaxi app changes outside of new service area

Tesla has also added a handful of new changes. With its first update of the Robotaxi app, Tesla addressed several highly requested changes, including the ability to adjust the pickup location instead of being fixed to a default spot.

Walking Directions to Pickup and Destination

In congested and large metro areas, ride-sharing pickups are sometimes confusing to navigate to. When it comes to dropoff at your destination, exiting the vehicle at the front door is not always possible (many in Austin noticed this at Terry Black’s BBQ).

Tesla Robotaxi’s biggest challenge seems to be this one thing

Now, the app will guide you on how to reach your Robotaxi and your destination when pickup and dropoff are not available at the entrances of the establishments you’re visiting.

Search Results now show closing times

If you’re going to arrive at an establishment close to its closing time, the Robotaxi app will now warn you that you could arrive with only a few minutes to spare, or you could miss it altogether.

This is a nice touch because there’s nothing worse than craving some ice cream at 10 p.m., only to arrive and see the doors are locked and the lights are off.

Many navigation apps have this integrated to eliminate any confusion about closing times.

Destination editing after booking

This feature could go hand-in-hand with the closing times. As a business might close shortly after your arrival, you might find it advantageous to visit another establishment that has more time to serve you.

You can now pivot your destination after you have entered your Roobtaxi.

Tesla has rolled out an expanded geofence for its Robotaxi pilot program in Austin, Texas. With the expansion, the Robotaxi’s geofence now rivals Waymo’s service area, while staying true to Elon Musk’s rather lighthearted and juvenile humor at the same time.

New Robotaxi geofence expansion

Elon Musk actually announced the expansion of the Robotaxi service’s Austin geofence last week, with the CEO stating that the company is expanding its coverage in the city over the weekend. At the time, Musk also mentioned that Tesla would be looking to launch its Robotaxi service in the Bay Area in a month or two.

Sure enough, there were no delays with the Austin Robotaxi expansion’s rollout. On Sunday, electric vehicle owners reported on social media that their Robotaxi apps have been updated with a much larger geofence. The rates of the Robotaxi service was reportedly still kept at a flat rate of $4.20 per ride.

Industry watchers also observed that with Tesla’s newest update, the Austin Robotaxi program now operates in an area that is quite comparable to Waymo’s. During the initial launch of Austin’s Robotaxi service, critics were keen to point out that Tesla’s operational area was notably smaller than Waymo’s geofence.

New shape pisses off critics, makes fans laugh

The fact that Tesla was able to expand its Robotaxi service’s operational area in Austin over the weekend is undoubtedly impressive. In true Elon Musk fashion, however, it also ended up pissing off critics because Tesla’s geofence in Austin is now shaped like a phallus—intentionally. 

This was something that was suggested by TSLA retail investor Steve Mark Ryan as a joke, but in true Tesla spirit, the company did just that. It’s a classic Tesla move if one were to think about it.

Elon Musk and the Tesla team are keen to play around the joke too, with Musk posting on X that the Robotaxi service is now “bigger, longer, and uncut.” The official Robotaxi service’s X account, on the other hand, also wrote that its new service area is “harder, better, faster, stronger.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has teased what could very well be one of the electric vehicle maker’s most important events. As per the CEO, Tesla will be holding its most epic demo yet by the end of the year.

Musk posted his update on social media platform X. 

Tesla’s most epic demo

Musk has been active on X this weekend, and on Sunday night, the CEO mentioned that he just left the Tesla Design Studio in Hawthorne, California. He seemed impressed with what he saw at the site, as he noted that the company will hold an impressive demonstration at the end of the year.

“Just left the Tesla design studio. Most epic demo ever by one of year. Ever, Musk wrote in his post. 

Musk’s post was received with much anticipation from the electric vehicle community, many of whom speculated that the company may finally be ready to take the wraps off the production version of a long-awaited flagship product. 

Possible new flagship?

When Tesla unveiled the Semi in late 2018, the company also unveiled the next-generation Roadster, which was designed to be the company’s halo vehicle. The Semi has since entered limited production and is now being used by both Tesla and select clients, but the Roadster remains under wraps. Considering that Musk mentioned the Tesla Design Studio in his recent post, some Tesla fans are speculating that the company may finally be unveiling the production version of the next-generation Roadster. 

Tesla, after all, has been overtaken in the raw EV power, range, and speed game by competitors, with vehicles like the Lucid Air Sapphire and the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra beating the company’s fastest car today, the Model S Plaid, in raw numbers.  Tesla could then use the Roadster to reestablish itself as the leader of the electric vehicle pack, raw numbers and tech or otherwise.