THE BIG STORY: Texas Just Made The AV Fleet Count Public. 983 Vehicles Are Authorized To Pull Into Commercial Curbs Right Now.

On May 28, Texas Senate Bill 2807 went fully into enforcement, creating the first formal state-level authorization system for commercial driverless vehicle operations in the country. The TxDMV database went public the same day.

Tesla registered 42 Model Y vehicles. Waymo registered 577. AV Ride registered 317. Nuro registered 47.

For the first time, anyone with a browser can look up exactly which companies are cleared to pull into a commercial curb in Austin, Dallas, or Houston for a paid fare, and how many vehicles they have to do it with.

The 42 versus 577 comparison landed hard, but the more important shift is the liability one. When a company self-certifies at Level 4 and registers under SB 2807, it absorbs operational responsibility for every mile those vehicles drive on Texas roads. That changes the conversation with every property, retailer, and parking lot those vehicles pull into.

Texas is the only state where this data is currently public. Other states are watching.

Image Source: NBC News

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AV ROUND UP

Uber Committed Close To $500 Million To Nuro. California Data Shows Nuro's Safety Benchmarks Are Moving In The Wrong Direction. Uber deepened its investment in Nuro with a commitment approaching $500 million, adding to the multi-AV-partner strategy it has been building out across Waymo, WeRide, Avride, and others. The California DMV's latest AV disengagement data tells a more complicated story. Nuro's safety benchmarks have been trending in the wrong direction in recent reporting periods. The money is real. The operational performance needs to catch up.

Aurora Is Running Fully Driverless Freight Hauls Between Dallas And Houston For McLane. 280,000 Miles. 100% On-Time. Aurora's commercial autonomous freight service hit 280K miles of fully autonomous hauls between Dallas and Houston for grocery distributor McLane, with a 100% on-time delivery record across every run. The cargo is perishable food heading to convenience stores and quick-service restaurants across the Texas corridor. It is the most mature commercial autonomous deployment in the country and most retail operators have never heard of it.

Tesla's Authorized Texas Fleet Is 42 Vehicles. Only 20 Are Actively Operating. Musk's Target Was 1,000 By Now. The Texas SB 2807 registry confirmed Tesla's authorized commercial fleet in the state at 42 Model Y vehicles, with internal tracking suggesting only 20 are actively taking paid fares at any given time. Elon Musk had publicly projected 1,000 autonomous Teslas operating in Texas by mid-2026. The gap between the promise and the registry is now a matter of public record for the first time.

BYD Became The First Automaker To Accept Full Crash Liability For Its Self-Driving System. Price: One-Fifth Of Tesla FSD. BYD announced full crash liability coverage for its God's Eye advanced driver assistance system. The move reframes the liability conversation that every AV company in the US is currently trying to avoid. When a major automaker publishes a price for absorbing crash risk, it signals a very different maturity level for the technology than most North American operators have seen.

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SIGNALS TO WATCH

Aurora's freight story is the quietest signal of the week and possibly the most instructive. Fully autonomous trucks hauling perishable food seven days a week with a 100% on-time record across 280,000 miles. That is the deployment pattern every operator should want to see replicated at the passenger curb.

SB 2807 put liability on record in a way it never was before. A company registered under the law is the legally identified responsible party for what its vehicles do on Texas roads. Property managers now have a name to attach to every incident at the curb.‍

Texas is the template and other states are building from it. Florida, Nevada, and Arizona all have active AV legislation in session this year. The properties that figure out curbside coordination in Austin and Dallas will have a repeatable playbook when the same registry lands in Miami, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.

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THE LAST 50 FT

The last human touchpoint in a fully autonomous fleet is the person standing in a parking lot holding a charging cable. On this episode Ben & Cam, sit down with Jeremy McCool, founder and CEO of HEVO, to talk about what happens when that person goes away too. HEVO makes wireless charging pads that go into the ground and charge autonomous vehicles without a plug and at roughly one-fifth the 10-year operating cost of traditional chargers. Ben also broke some news: Autolane just acquired 14 Model Y vehicles for Austin and commercial deliveries start July 1.

Listen to the episode here.

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THE AUTOCOMM BRIEF TAKE

This week Texas put the full fleet count on public record for the first time. Tesla: 42. Waymo: 577. Total across all companies: 983. The number nobody is talking about is what those 983 vehicles find when they pull into a commercial curb in Austin or Dallas. In most cases, they find nothing. No designated zone. No coordination system. No one expecting them.

SB 2807 created the commercial right to operate. It did not create the infrastructure to receive the vehicles. Aurora is already running autonomous freight trucks between Dallas and Houston with a 100% on-time record. BYD just absorbed full liability for its self-driving crashes in China. Uber just committed $500 million to its robotaxi partner. The pace is not slowing. The curb is the last thing that has not caught up yet.

Direct Delivery goes commercial in Austin in July. The operators reading this newsletter already see what is coming. The early cohort is forming now.

The lane is changing. Let's make sure it leads somewhere worth going. 🏁

coverage.goautolane.com

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