Tesla Applies in Arizona and Creates Job Postings

Tesla is moving to aggressively expand its Robotaxi Network at a rapid pace, with new information revealing that an expansion into Arizona is imminent, pending, of course, regulatory approval. Tesla has already begun looking at building out the program to other cities, just weeks after the launch of its pilot program in Austin, Texas.

Phoenix, Arizona, is Next

In a letter received following a query submitted by Sawyer Merritt, the Arizona Department of Transportation (AZDOT) has confirmed that Tesla had officially applied for Robotaxi permits on June 26th, 2025. According to AZDOT, Tesla had applied for the permits for both autonomous vehicle testing and operation with and without a safety driver.

The department also confirmed that Tesla has expressed its interest specifically in operating within the Phoenix Metro area, with a decision on the permits expected by the end of July. This is the first official step to establish Robotaxi within a second state, which is exciting to see.

Tesla Hiring Vehicle Operators

The move into Arizona isn’t an isolated event. It’s the first step in a broader national expansion, as per Tesla’s recent job postings for Robotaxi Vehicle Operators and FSD testers on Tesla’s Careers page. 

These positions, which are necessary for Tesla to launch and validate the service in new locations, show us where Tesla plans to deploy Robotaxi next. The areas include:

• Tempe, Arizona

• Palo Alto, California

• Fremont, California

• San Diego, California

• Henderson, Nevada

• Jacksonville, Florida

Tesla is simultaneously laying the groundwork for expansion in at least three other states besides Texas and Arizona, and that’s a good sign for the network’s quick expansion. Tesla’s executive cadre pointed to a timeline of late 2025 for Robotaxi to be deployed in multiple cities across the United States, and it appears that this timeline is on track.

The Scalability Advantage

This strategy of pursuing multiple markets in parallel highlights the advantage of Tesla’s generalized autonomy approach. Because FSD is designed to be a generalized solution that learns from a global fleet, Tesla does not need to spend years meticulously pre-mapping every street in a new city. 

Instead, it can target new locations and use a smaller fleet of operators to validate the performance and safety of FSD within a new environment. After all, every city has its own unique traffic regulations and environmental considerations that need to be understood.

The key here is that Tesla can turn on a fleet in a whole new location in just a fraction of the time required by other methods, such as HD mapping – which can require hundreds of mapping vehicles, thousands of hours of real humans driving, and many hours of engineering to get all the data cleaned up and ready for use.

The Austin pilot is just the beginning of Robotaxi. Tesla is already planning to expand the geofence this weekend and plans to scale the network to other cities soon.

Tesla has begun rolling out some map updates, including a brand new geographic area. These updates include two regional map updates, with one confirming Tesla’s entry into India and the other improving the maps in Europe.

Indian Launch

The biggest addition is a new map region for India, which was discovered by Tesla hacker Greentheonly. This move, while seemingly minor, is a prerequisite for Tesla launching vehicles in the region.

For years, discussions about Tesla’s arrival in India have focused on manufacturing plans, import duties, and retail store plans. However, the vehicles themselves must all be technically ready for the region.

This is more than just data entry; it involves integrating local points of interest, Tesla’s internal routing logic, and displaying regional road information correctly. In past market entries, Tesla has activated the necessary navigation regions in its software shortly before officially launching in a country, and just this morning, news broke that Tesla will open its first showroom in India.

On July 15th, Tesla will open its first showroom in Mumbai, marking its entry into the Indian market.

For those who have imported Tesla vehicles in advance of the official market entry, this means they will finally receive official maps and navigation support, and will likely begin receiving official software updates in the near future.

European Maps Update

In addition to the India map update, Tesla has also starting roll out a map update for Europe. The new map update for Europe is version EU-2025.14, bringing users up from EU-2025.2.

You’ll need to connect to WiFi in order to download map updates and similar to software updats, Tesla will roll them out gradually. If you want to learn more about map updates, be sure to check out our Tesla maps and navigaiton guide.

This map update will likely be fairly minor, but it should include newer roads, speed limits and more details. It could also include additional information that’s required for launching FSD in Europe.

While map updates aren’t as exciting as FSD updates or major software updates like the upcoming Grok AI update, they’re especially useful for Tesla owners who travel on new roads that may not be in Tesla’s current map version.

Tesla has officially scheduled its 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting for Thursday, November 6, 2025. The date was confirmed in an 8-K form filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission this week. Shareholders can expect to begin receiving official notifications by email or letter this week.

While we don’t know what, if anything, is up for vote this year, shareholders should ensure their investment accounts are linked up at ir.tesla.com if they plan to vote on upcoming proposals.

While these meetings cover standard corporate governance, they’ve also become a key venue for Tesla to share updates on its future projects.

Let’s take a look back at Tesla’s 2024 shareholder meeting to see what we can expect for 2025.

A Look Back: Shareholder Meeting 2024

The 2024 Shareholder Meeting was packed with news and updates. Some of the highlights included details on Cybercab, the first mentions of AI5, and the move of Tesla’s incorporation to Texas following the re-ratification of Elon’s 2018 compensation plan.

That’s a lot that happened in just one meeting – and you can read our full recap here.

Topics for 2025

The 2025 meeting may provide progress updates on several key items.

First up is the final status of Elon Musk’s pay package. While it was successfully re-ratified following the 2024 Meeting, the Court of Delaware ruled against it, creating a legal situation that resulted in Tesla amending its letter of incorporation and moving to Texas.

While the messy legal situation hasn’t been completely sorted out yet, there’s a chance we could see more on this at the 2025 Meeting.

Next up is a status update on the Robotaxi Network pilot, as well as progress for Tesla’s Cybercab program. We’ve seen early prototype castings for the Cybercab outside Giga Texas, and they recently provided an updated timeline in their 2024 Impact Report. This is going to be the next big step for Tesla’s growth as it starts its Robotaxi service business.

The Tesla Semi and Tesla Energy are also two massive programs undergoing upgrades and revamps. The volume production of Semi is supposed to begin by the end of 2025, and Tesla is constantly working on expanding Tesla Energy’s manufacturing footprint to meet the never-ending demand for Megapack and Powerwall. We’re anticipating some major updates here, along with some updates on Tesla’s next-generation battery tech, including the Gen 3 Cybercell that includes dry-cathode manufacturing.

There’s a lot to be excited about – and November 6th is the day we may find out a lot about Tesla’s future products. The meeting will be a big event that we’ll cover in detail, so don’t worry, even if you miss it. We’ll have a full set of recap notes and longer in-depth articles following the event, as usual.