A tweet outlining a horrible Tesla robotaxi experience has gone viral, largely because fans of the EV company are getting defensive.
A man going by Reggie Overton on X, described as a “Tesla ambassador” in his bio, said he had a “horrible” experience, which didn’t result in any support or refund from the company. In his tweet, he said he was only going 2.3 miles, but the robotaxi said it would take over an hour.
“I couldn’t believe it, so I called support. They assured me it was a bug, and shortly afterward, the estimate dropped to 16 minutes but the actual route never changed,” Reggie wrote. “About two minutes later, the estimated arrival time jumped back up to 57 minutes. I called support again, and the representative confirmed that he was seeing the same 57-minute estimate on his end.
“I asked if he could reroute the vehicle, but he told me he couldn’t and suggested that I leave a review.”
I had a horrible experience with Robotaxi, and unfortunately, support wasn’t able to help.
My destination was only 2.3 miles from my pickup location, yet the Robotaxi estimated it would take 1 hour and 6 minutes to get there. I couldn’t believe it, so I called support. They… pic.twitter.com/HlIE5r785F
— Reggie Overton (@reggieoverton) August 22, 2026
In the end, Reggie Overton reported that he changed his destination completely. In fact, he even had to get out of the robotaxi at that point and call an Uber.
“For a 2.3-mile trip, this was an incredibly frustrating experience especially when support had no way to correct what was clearly a routing problem. I’m asking everyone to share my story. I didn’t even get a refund,” he concluded.
Tesla fans are not deterred
It seems like a reasonable reason to be frustrated. I feel anyone would be bummed and annoyed if they got a rideshare that couldn’t get them to their destination, and then didn’t get a refund. To be fair to Tesla, the company claimed that he received a refund after the tweet went viral.
But, it seems this is a perfectly acceptable experience if you ask any Tesla fanboy. The reactions to Reggie Overton’s story are, frankly, sorta insane. Most were along the lines of this one: “I can’t believe the tone of this complaint. You are beta testing a service. You should assume from the start that something will go wrong.”
“Oh no, cutting edge technology that was science fiction just 50 years ago hasn’t achieved perfection yet. Oh, the horror!” said another Tesla fan.
One added: “Very odd. I would be thrilled to be in a robotaxi for over an hour, but I can’t imagine most people would. They definitely need to get this fixed.”
The majority of Tesla fanboys seemed to believe that anyone should be so lucky to get stuck in a robotaxi that doesn’t get you anywhere and takes your money. The excuse? It’s a new service and in beta mode, so what do you expect?
Tesla’s robotaxi program has been a huge mess
Tesla has been beta testing the robotaxi thing since June 2025, with a small fleet available in Austin, Texas. The tests used modified Model Y vehicles that had humans sitting in the front passenger seat, and it was a huge mess for the past year. This was desite Musk claiming Cybercabs were coming and mocking Waymo for its “rookie numbers” of 2,500 vehicles across the U.S.
Huh?
At the time, reporters claimed they were waiting hours for rides and that the rides themselves were full of mistakes, wrong turns, and random drop-off spots. The robotaxis made mistakes that could definitely be considered dangerous.
And it hasn’t gotten much better now that Tesla has finally expanded and started testing the Cybercab, its terrifying pedal-less robotaxi vehicle. Musk claimed earlier this year that “we’ll probably have autonomous ride-hailing in about half the population of the US by the end of the year,” but there were under 60 Cybercabs on the road as of June 2026.
Tesla is, no shocker, not sharing exact numbers. But it’s clearly nowhere near what Musk has continued to promise. The Cybercab was announced in 2024, but it just started rolling off production lines. And they testing has been a disaster, according to former employees. It will officially launch in September2026, despite Full Self-Driving mode only being Level 2 and requiring human assistance.
Employees have continued to leave, likely afraid to be associated with a steering wheel-less autonomous vehicle that doesn’t have the capability to drive alone, which even Musk admitted earlier this year.
But if you ask any Tesla fanboy, Tesla is doing something amazing here. I’d love to somehow be this unaware of reality. It must be sorta peaceful to not be aware of anything. Then again, I could end up on an hour ride in a Cybercab, which basically sounds like seppuku.
