This Week in The Autonomy Economy™
Tesla Launches Robotaxi in Miami
This Week in the Autonomy Economy, we headed to Miami for the launch of robotaxi, Waymo announced four new markets are coming online and Momenta went public in Hong Kong.
Autonomy is global, and as we have covered over the last few weeks, Europe is rapidly emerging as a robotaxi hotspot. The way things are playing out now, Europe will be one of the first markets where U.S., UK, and Chinese robotaxi companies all battle for market share.
It’s too early to say who ultimately wins, but new risks are emerging in the market, as AUTNMY AI co-founder Rob Grant rightly pointed out on the July 2nd edition of the Autonomy Signals podcast.
As these risks emerge in Europe, OMEGA, our proprietary intelligence model that tracks the global autonomy economy, is uncovering emerging risks and opportunities that the market has not yet fully grasped.
If you are interested in learning more about OMEGA and the underlying data, please send an email to alpha[at]autnmy.ai As we have officially begun opening several OMEGA data feeds that are now available via Snowflake and Databricks, with more data feeds coming online soon.
📰 Need to Know: This Week in the Autonomy Economy
What happened during Tesla’s Robotaxi launch day in Miami?
Tesla officially launched its unsupervised Robotaxi service in a suburban area of Miami stretching from Coral Gables to Doral. Getting a ride on launch day required a lot of patience due to high demand messages, cancellations, and a lightning storm. Based on app license plate counts, only two to three vehicles were initially operating on day one.
How did Tesla’s vehicles handle the elements during launch week?
The ride quality in Miami was reported as the smoothest across Tesla’s active markets (Austin, Houston, and Miami). The vehicle successfully demonstrated strong real-time judgment by pulling over to a complete stop for an approaching ambulance and driving through two deeply flooded streets at 8 mph without hesitation.
In nearly every single ride (98% of them), the vehicle displayed a software error stating it was “unable to start your ride.” Passengers had to press the in-vehicle support button to have remote staff manually push the trip through.
If the launch fleet was so small, why is this considered a major strategic move?
Because Tesla is quietly building a massive staging ground. While only two or three vehicles were active on day one, a visit to a staging lot on the fringe of Miami International Airport (MIA) just two days later revealed a couple dozen Cybercabs and roughly twelve Model Y Robotaxis waiting in the wings. This location is highly strategic: it sits just two miles from the main airport entrance and a mere three miles from Waymo’s airport depot, which is currently under construction. Tesla is clearly positioning itself to scale aggressively and disrupt its chief competitor right at the main gateway of the city.
What is the latest controversy surrounding Waymo’s newest market expansions?
A politically risky vehicle choice. Waymo recently teased animations for four upcoming markets. Eagle-eyed analysts at AUTNMY AI noticed that while the backgrounds changed for each city, the interior shown in the foreground consistently featured the Chinese-manufactured Zeekr RT (recently rebranded as the Ojai). Deploying Chinese-made vehicle fleets in Florida could trigger a massive regulatory headache, given the state leadership’s aggressive legislative stance against Chinese tech and manufacturing.
Additionally, Waymo faced a tough holiday weekend in San Francisco on July 4th, when a fleet of its vehicles became bricked and immobilized, completely blocking traffic due to a combination of dense holiday crowds, road closures, and wireless connectivity failures.
What happened with Momenta’s public listing, and why does it matter?
Momenta officially went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising $751 million. The IPO was highly anticipated, with the retail tranche coming in a staggering 414 times oversubscribed. Major global institutional heavyweights including BlackRock, Fidelity International, Mercedes-Benz, and BYD backed the listing as cornerstone investors. This massive market reception signals a structural shift: Wall Street and global investors are pivoting their capital away from highly speculative, cash-burning robotaxi operators and moving it toward proven, capital-efficient software providers whose physical AI is already deployed in nearly a million production vehicles.
What’s Moving the Markets
Tesla Unsupervised Robotaxi Miami Field Report
We were in Miami for Robotaxi Miami launch day and successfully secured our first ride at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. During almost a dozen rides over two days, we noticed signals that Tesla has grand ambitions for the Miami market and they are actively preparing to expand the service area and ramp up service.
Miami is the third market where we have ridden in an unsupervised Robotaxi after Austin and Houston.
Robotaxi Miami Launch Day
Getting a ride on launch day required a lot of patience as we encountered multiple high service demand messages, several cancellations and one which we believe was caused by a lightning storm as Waymo went temporarily offline at the moment, but we persevered, never gave up, and secured a ride.
Based on license plate counts shown to us in the Robotaxi app, we believe that there were only two Robotaxis in operation on launch day in Miami. The vehicles operated in a suburban area of Miami stretching from Coral Gables to Doral in the northwest.
The Staging Lot: Dozens of Cybercabs
Two days after launch, David Moss joined us as we visited the location where Tesla launches robotaxis in Miami and a staging lot on the fringe of Miami International Airport (MIA). On launch day we counted three Cybercabs. Two days later, we counted a couple dozen Cybercabs, all with Florida plates, along with roughly a dozen Model Y Robotaxis.
The defining factor of this site as a potential long-term staging hub for the Miami market is the location.
Location: The staging lot sits on the fringe of Miami International Airport, roughly two miles from the main airport entrance and three miles from Waymo’s airport depot that is still under construction. The synergies of airport-adjacent real estate are clear, and the proximity to a direct competitor’s depot is not a coincidence.
The Ride: Smooth Through the Flooded Streets
The ride quality in Miami was the best we have experienced across the three markets we have been in (Austin, Houston, and Miami), operating noticeably smoother than Houston. The service area felt very similar to Houston, raising the question of whether Tesla is deploying a standardized deployment template as it enters new markets.
The vehicle demonstrated strong real-time judgment throughout all of our rides. When an ambulance approached from behind with sirens on, the Robotaxi pulled to the right lane and came to a full, complete stop. It drove through two deeply flooded stretches of road at a steady eight miles per hour without hesitation.
When a piece of bark fell from a tree onto the parking lot, the vehicle held its position for four minutes and 45 seconds before driving over it, with no remote takeover required. A little longer than we would have liked, but no manual intervention.
The Bug: Unable to Start Your Ride
Nearly every time we tried to start the ride, the vehicle displayed an error stating it was unable to start the ride and directed us to contact support. We pressed the support button, and support sent us on our way. Unsure what caused this issue, but it is something to mention as it happened in 98% of all the rides we took.
Strategic Geography
Tesla’s Miami deployment was extremely small, with only two vehicles in service on day one, but the assets tell a bigger story. A staging lot with dozens of Cybercabs and roughly a dozen Model Y robotaxis on the fringe of Miami International Airport is not a coincidence. It’s a sign that Tesla has big plans for the Miami robotaxi market.
Waymo Ojai Rides, Free for Now in California
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The Road to Autonomy Robotaxi Index
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Piquing Our Interest
Uber Drivers Rally Against Waymo in Atlanta, an Uber-Only Market In our view, Uber has avoided launching a dedicated robotaxi tier in the United States to protect its relationship with their drivers, and that tension is coming to a head in Atlanta now as those same drivers rally against Uber’s Atlanta robotaxi partner, Waymo.
Waymo Begins Testing in Jefferson Parish (New Orleans) As Waymo prepares to possibly launch commercial service in New Orleans in 2027, the company has expanded testing to Orleans and Jefferson parishes in The Big Easy.
Waymo Begins Testing in Sacramento Waymo has begun testing with safety drivers in Sacramento following regulatory approval from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
Waymos Get Bricked on the 4th of July A fleet of Waymo vehicles became immobilized and blocked traffic in San Francisco on the 4th of July for unknown reasons.
No LiDAR, No New Jersey Someone is trying to be a wise guy and say no LiDAR, no deployment. Only in a state where you are not allowed to pump your own gas would they require a sensor for autonomous vehicles, rather then let the market decide the best path forward.
31,075 Autonomous Vehicle Trips and Counting In the first half of 2026, Abu Dhabi recorded 31,075 trips by autonomous vehicles.
Momenta Goes Public in Hong Kong Chinese autonomous driving company, Momenta went public on the Hong Kong exchange this week, raising $751 million.
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Trending on X
Four New Waymo Markets Activated, With One Big Question Mark
🕵️ At AUTNMY AI, we always have our inspector hats on. In Waymo’s latest expansion post, we caught a subtle detail that was either a massive oversight or a very deliberate gamble.
If you look closely at the animation for each new market, the background changes, but the foreground stays exactly the same featuring the interior of the Chinese-made Zeekr RT, which has since been re-branded Ojai.
Why is this a big deal? It implies that Waymo plans to possibly deploy the Ojai fleet in Florida, a politically risky move in a state whose leadership has taken a hardline stance against Chinese tech, manufacturing and land ownership.
Our take: Nothing is ever truly an oversight. Perhaps this is Waymo’s way of testing the regulatory waters. Only time will tell, but in a weeks we will soon find out.
Bot Auto’s Playbook for One Billion Autonomous Miles
Brett Suma, President and COO of Bot Auto, joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Bot Auto’s playbook for autonomously driving one billion autonomous miles in four years.
Tesla Launches Robotaxi in Miami, Waymo’s July 4th Stumble, Momenta IPOs in Hong Kong
This week on Autonomy Signals presented by KPMG, Grayson Brulte and Rob Grant discuss Tesla’s Unsupervised Robotaxi launch in Miami, Waymo’s July 4th stumble in San Francisco, and Momenta’s oversubscribed IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Three Robotaxis in Miami, Four New Waymo Markets, One New NHTSA Letter
This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Tesla’s unsupervised robotaxi launch in Miami, Waymo preparing to bring four new markets online, and NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison’s letter to autonomous vehicle operators.