Tesla starts robotaxi rides in San Antonio across 274 square miles, four times Waymo's map there

Tesla began offering robotaxi rides in San Antonio at 5 a.m. local time on Nov. 9, what Electrek counts as its eighth city. The launch zone covers about 274 square miles, from Loop 1604 to just south of downtown, Electrek reports, citing the Robotaxi Tracker site. That is Tesla's largest map on day one and more than four times the 59 square miles the tracker lists for Waymo in the same city.

The map has outrun the fleet. Robotaxi Tracker counts 666 Tesla robotaxis nationwide, 453 of them in Austin, according to Electrek, which leaves about 213 for the other seven cities. Fort Worth has 24 and Miami five, TechCrunch reports. As of Monday morning the tracker had logged no Tesla in San Antonio, and Tesla has not said how many cars will serve the zone.

The advertised area also runs ahead of what riders can book. When Koby Pierce tested thousands of addresses in the app on an emulator, only 59% to 78% of the advertised land area accepted rides across six cities, Electrek reports. San Antonio International Airport sits inside the new zone and is not served.

Waymo, which started driverless rides in San Antonio in February, opened them to all riders in October with airport trips included. If Tesla's San Antonio fleet looks like Fort Worth's, riders there will be choosing between the bigger map and the car that turns up.