There are moments when the future peeks out from behind the curtain and gives us a little wave—sometimes wobbly, sometimes with a flourish, and occasionally while hurtling down the wrong side of the street in downtown Austin. Tesla’s robotaxi rollout in Texas this past weekend fits squarely in that first (and possibly third) category.

Wrong Way, New Day

According to CNBC, Tesla kicked off its long-teased robotaxi service with fewer than two dozen Model Y SUVs, each decked out in the company’s latest “Full Self-Driving Unsupervised” tech. The fledgling fleet toted around selected invitees, with a human “valet” in the passenger seat—a mild-mannered, living suggestion that maybe, just maybe, we’re still not quite ready to hand over all our transit to the silicon set.

Footage reviewed by CNBC and widely circulated online depicted at least one robotaxi confidently venturing the wrong way down a street, while another was seen braking sharply in traffic after responding to stationary police vehicles that were, by all appearances, minding their own business far outside its path. In addition to these standout performances, CNBC notes a handful of other unconventional driving moments from Tesla’s Austin experiment. One has to wonder: what was the human valet thinking—hand poised above some undisclosed emergency override button?

This roadshow didn’t just attract eyeballs; regulators quickly took notice, too. A spokesperson for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed to CNBC that the agency “is aware of the referenced incidents and is in contact with the manufacturer to gather additional information.” The NHTSA doesn’t exactly rubber-stamp new autonomous tech, preferring instead to let automakers self-certify for safety while retaining the right to investigate when online videos start trending with titles like, “Spot the Robotaxi.”

Hype, Reality, and the Space Between

Elon Musk’s ambitions for autonomy, as noted by CNBC, have long been a staple of futuristic optimism. He’s made claims—Teslas will be fully autonomous by 2018, or that 1 million robotaxis would be raking in extra cash for their owners by 2020—that read now like the car tech equivalent of “by Christmas.” To date, none of these visions have materialized. Instead, what appeared in Austin was a tightly limited group of vehicles, operated only in daylight and good weather, with company-approved testers—many of whom, CNBC describes, are already outspoken Tesla fans and promoters—along for the ride. Is this methodical or just selective? The distinction feels a bit blurry.

Meanwhile, the robotaxi industry’s more understated players seem happy to let their wheels do the talking. Alphabet-owned Waymo recently reached a major milestone, surpassing 10 million paid rides, according to the CNBC outlet. In China, competitors like Baidu’s Apollo Go, WeRide, and Pony.ai are quietly putting fleets on the road, racking up stats while Tesla turns heads—if not always in the intended direction. Would you prefer your driverless innovation to be exciting and headline-grabbing, or so boringly safe that nobody even notices?

Regulators and the Road Ahead

CNBC also reminds readers the NHTSA began investigating possible safety defects with Tesla’s supervised Full Self-Driving systems following several injurious and fatal incidents; that probe continues even as the Austin program makes its debut. Now, with the agency gathering new info about Tesla’s latest leap, regulators seem poised between caution and curiosity. If the company’s “early access” rides are meant as a real-world test, it’s the entire online world—not just government watchdogs—who will be keeping score. How many rehearsal runs does the public get before we call it an opening night?

Tesla’s pilot, as described in the outlet’s report, operates within a tightly drawn box: clear skies, daylight hours, passengers by invitation only, and a human valet observing every move. Yet even here, as recent events make clear, unpredictability isn’t so easily contained. Will this incremental, hands-on approach allow the tech to mature before being loosed upon an unsuspecting public? Or are we destined to witness more moments where the “future of transportation” stops short in daylight to gawk at a police cruiser?

Perhaps this is just another clumsy milestone in the road trip to full autonomy—awkward, a little funny, and strangely fitting for a city that prides itself on keeping things weird. When robotaxis show up on local streets, do they just need extra practice, or could it be that, for now, we’re all still the safety supervisor, watching nervously from the passenger seat?