Tesla’s manager for Mobile Robotics, Chris Walti, recently invited skilled engineers and technicians to apply at Tesla and get the opportunity to work on the company’s humanoid robot program.
Tesla announced its plans to produce the Tesla Bot during AI Day. The company isn’t wasting any time making the Tesla Bot prototype based on its recent hiring ramp. A week or so ago, Tesla posted a few jobs related to the Tesla Bot. Teslarati reported that Tesla was looking for two mechanical engineers and two senior robotics architects for its humanoid robot.
A recent search through Tesla’s Careers page shows that there are now many more jobs relating to the Tesla Bot, several of which were highlighted by the executive on LinkedIn. A quick skim through the available Tesla Bot jobs hint that the company isn’t just thinking about the prototype it plans to unveil in 2022. There are a couple positions available relating to the manufacturing process of the Tesla Bot as well.
For instance, Tesla is looking for a controls engineer for the Tesla Bot, which falls under the manufacturing category. The responsibilities of a controls engineers are listed below.
Controls Engineer – Tesla Bot Responsibilities
- Research, design, simulate, specify, implement, debug, and test control and estimation algorithms for various electrical, mechanical, and thermal systems
- Work on using high level controls and modeling analytic tools to inform product development in terms of actuator, sensor and kinematic design.
- Work collaboratively with responsible electrical, mechanical, and firmware engineers to define sensing requirements, establish control system capabilities, and set targets
- Advance Tesla IP in control systems for new products
Another position that falls under the manufacturing category is engineering technician for the Tesla Bot. The engineering technician’s responsibilities are listed below.
Engineering Technician – Tesla Bot Responsibilities
- Work with engineers to fabricate, assemble, and integrate mobile robot prototypes, including mechanical assemblies, electrical systems, wire harnesses, etc.
- Develop test plans and test systems, including building of assembly jigs and test/validation systems
- Collaborate with engineering teams to root cause and resolve mechanical and electrical issues
- Provide detailed written & verbal test status updates to key stakeholders
- Support engineering teams in instrumentation and data acquisition setup and logging
- Maintain a lab, ensuring that it is well-stocked with the tools and materials needed to make prototype wire harnesses
- Supporting bench-top electrical system builds and testing, including obtaining and tracking
- Support low volume prototype part builds and testing, including obtaining and tracking
- Interface components from other Engineering and Purchasing groups within Tesla
The new job posts also show that Tesla plans to work on the Tesla Bot in California and Texas. The majority of jobs open for the Tesla Bot are located in Palo Alto, California. However, there is one located in Austin, Texas.
Tesla is looking for a test engineer for the Tesla Bot project in Texas. The responsibilities of a test engineer are listed below.
Test Engineer – Tesla Bot Responsibilities
- Participate in initial cross-functional product development and carefully balance product specifications, process requirements, manufacturing complexity, cost, and lead-time limits.
- Define and implement efficient plans for testing, automating and improving focusing on time/cost reduction and low complexity.
- Own and drive hardware validation efforts for electrical and mechanical systems. Your job is to figure out how these products could fail and to collaborate with design partners to drive changes.
- Write and maintain test software to automate test execution, data collection and data analysis
- Manage tests from setup through execution and reporting, including test planning, development, execution, inspections, root cause analysis, data processing, documenting, and failure analysis.
- Develop and maintain validation schedules, coordinate test resources, and communicate status/blockers to program managers
- Actively participate in design reviews and DFMEAs to shape product towards reliability and deepen understanding of product risks
- Organize cross functional teams (internal + external)
- Document, organize, and track testing progress and provide updates to the team and upper management.
More Tesla Bot jobs may open in Texas as the company gets closer to unveiling the prototype and producing the humanoid robot. The Tesla Bot will undoubtedly be one of the most exciting projects Tesla will be working on over the next few years.
Link to Tesla Bot jobs, here.
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Tesla has taken home the “Overall Loyalty to Make” award from S&P Global Mobility for the fourth consecutive year, reinforcing Tesla owners’ willingness to come back. The 2025 awards are based on S&P Global Mobility’s analysis of 13.6 million new retail vehicle registrations in the U.S. from October 2024 through September 2025. The complete list of 2025 winners includes General Motors for Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer, Tesla for Overall Loyalty to Make, Chevrolet Equinox for Overall Loyalty to Model, Mini for Most Improved Make Loyalty, Subaru for Overall Loyalty to Dealer, and Tesla again for both Ethnic Market Loyalty to Make and Highest Conquest Percentage.
Tesla’s streak in this category started in 2022, and the brand has now won the Highest Conquest Percentage award for six straight years, meaning it keeps pulling buyers away from other brands at a rate no competitor has matched. Tesla’s retention among Asian households reached 63.6% and among Hispanic households 61.9%, rates that significantly outpace national averages for those groups. That breadth of appeal across demographics adds a layer of significance to a win that some might dismiss as routine.
The timing matters too. After several consecutive quarters of decline, Tesla’s share of U.S. EV sales jumped to 59% in Q4 2025. That rebound, arriving just as competitors were flooding the market with new models and incentives, suggests Tesla’s loyalty numbers are not simply the result of limited alternatives. Buyers are still choosing it when they have plenty of other options.
What keeps Tesla owners coming back has a lot to do with the and convenience of charging. The Supercharger network is the most straightforward example. With over 65,000 Superchargers globally, it remains the largest and most reliable fast-charging network in the world, and owners who have built their routines around it face a real practical cost when considering a switch. Competitors have made progress, but the consistency, speed, and availability of Tesla’s network is still the benchmark the rest of the industry is chasing. Then there is the software side. Tesla has built a model where the car you own today is functionally different from the car you bought two years ago, through over-the-air updates that add continuous game-changing improvements such as Full Self-Driving that has moved from a driver-assist feature to an increasingly capable autonomous system. For many Tesla owners, leaving the brand means starting over with a car that will not get meaningfully better over time, and that is a trade-off fewer and fewer are willing to make.
Tesla Robotaxi services in Austin have been operating since last Summer, but Tesla has admittedly been delayed in its expansion of the geofence, fleet size, and other details in a bid to prioritize safety as new technology rolls out.
But those barriers are being broken with new guardrails being removed from the program.
Tesla has achieved a significant advancement in its autonomous ride-hailing program. As of May 4, the Robotaxi fleet in Austin, Texas, has begun operating unsupervised during evening hours for the first time. This expansion moves beyond previous limitations that restricted unsupervised service to daylight hours, typically ending in mid-afternoon.
Tesla Robotaxi in Austin is operating unsupervised in the evenings for the first time today.
Previously in Austin, unsupervised operation ended mid-afternoon
— Robotaxi Tracker (@RtaxiTracker) May 4, 2026
The change brings Austin in line with operations in Dallas and Houston. Those cities have supported evening unsupervised runs since their initial launches in April, and both recently received additions of new unsupervised vehicles to their fleets. This coordinated progress across Texas strengthens Tesla’s regional presence and provides a broader testing ground for the technology.
This milestone carries substantial weight in the development of autonomous vehicles. Extending operations into low-light conditions meaningfully expands the Robotaxi’s operational design domain (ODD)—the specific environments and scenarios in which the system is approved to operate safely without human intervention.
Nighttime driving presents unique technical demands: diminished visibility, headlight glare from oncoming traffic, reduced contrast for identifying pedestrians and lane markings, and greater variability in camera sensor exposure.
Tesla’s pure vision approach, powered by neural networks trained on vast real-world datasets rather than lidar or pre-mapped routes, must handle these variables reliably. Demonstrating consistent unsupervised performance after sunset validates the robustness of the end-to-end AI stack and its ability to generalize across diverse lighting conditions.
Beyond technical validation, the expansion holds important operational and economic implications. Evening hours often coincide with peak urban demand for rides, including commutes, dining, and entertainment outings.
Enabling service during these periods increases daily vehicle utilization, allowing each Robotaxi to generate more revenue while gathering additional high-value training data. Higher utilization accelerates the virtuous cycle of data collection, model improvement, and further ODD growth.
Looking ahead, this step paves the way for more ambitious rollouts. Success in low-light environments positions Tesla to pursue near-24-hour operations, potentially integrating highways and expanding into varied weather patterns. Regulators worldwide frequently demand evidence of safe performance across day-night cycles before granting wider approvals.
Proven capability in Texas could expedite deployments in planned cities such as Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas during the first half of 2026.
Tesla confirms Robotaxi expansion plans with new cities and aggressive timeline
Moreover, scaling evening service supports Tesla’s long-term vision of a high-efficiency robotaxi network. Greater fleet productivity lowers the cost per mile, making autonomous mobility more accessible and competitive against traditional ride-hailing.
As the company iterates on software updates informed by nighttime data, reliability is expected to compound rapidly, unlocking denser urban coverage and longer-distance trips.
In summary, the introduction of an unsupervised evening Robotaxi service in Austin represents more than an incremental schedule adjustment. It signals a critical maturation of the underlying technology and sets the foundation for broader geographic and temporal expansion.
With Texas operations gaining momentum, Tesla is steadily advancing toward transforming urban transportation at scale.
Cybertruck
Tesla Cybercab just rolled through Miami inside a glass box
Tesla paraded a Cybercab in a glass display at Miami’s F1 Grand Prix event this week.
Tesla set up an “Autonomy Pop-Up” at Lummus Park in Miami Beach from April 29 through May 3, 2026, embedded within the official F1 Miami Grand Prix Fan Fest. The centerpiece was a Cybertruck towing the Cybercab inside a glass display case marked “Future is Autonomous,” rolling through the beachfront crowd.
Miami is on Tesla’s confirmed list of cities for robotaxi expansion in the first half of 2026, making the promotion a strategic promotion that lays groundwork in a target market.
This was not Tesla’s first time using Miami as a showcase city. In December 2025, Tesla hosted “The Future of Autonomy Visualized” at its Miami Design District showroom, coinciding with Art Basel Miami Beach. That event featured the Cybercab prototype and Optimus robots interacting with attendees. The F1 pop-up this week marks Tesla’s return to Miami and follows a pattern Tesla has been running since early 2026. Just two weeks before Miami, Tesla stationed Optimus at the Tesla Boston Boylston Street showroom on April 19 and 20, directly on the final stretch of the Boston Marathon, letting tens of thousands of runners and spectators meet the robot for free, generating massive earned media at zero advertising cost.
Tesla is sending its humanoid Optimus robot to the Boston Marathon
Tesla has confirmed plans to expand its robotaxi service to seven cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas, building on the unsupervised service already running in Austin. Musk has said he expects robotaxis to cover between a quarter and half of the United States by end of year. On the production side, Musk told shareholders that the Cybercab manufacturing process could eventually produce up to 5 million vehicles per year, targeting a cycle time of one unit every ten seconds. Scaling robotaxis to 10 million operational units over the next ten years is a key condition of his compensation package, alongside selling 20 million passenger vehicles.
As for the Cybercab’s price, Musk has said buyers will be able to purchase one for under $30,000, with an average operating cost around $0.20 per mile. Whether those numbers hold through full production remains to be seen.
Cybercab at F1 Fan Fest in Miami
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Tesla owners keep coming back for more
Tesla Robotaxi service in Austin achieves monumental new accomplishment
