Nevada grants Tesla Robotaxi a 5,000-vehicle Clark County permit

What the official NTA record says

The Nevada Transportation Authority’s August 20, 2026 General Session listed Tesla Robotaxi, LLC as agenda item 63, docket 26-05015, for possible action. The agenda describes Tesla’s application as a permit to use not more than 5,000 fully autonomous vehicles during the first 12 months after an Autonomous Vehicle Network Company permit is issued, in Clark County, including operations to and from Harry Reid International Airport and Henderson Executive Airport.

The official meeting binder includes a draft compliance order dated for that same session. The draft order grants the application: passenger transportation in fully autonomous vehicles within Clark County, within Tesla’s Operational Design Domain, with a fleet of no more than 5,000 vehicles. After Tesla meets the order’s conditions, NTA would issue a new permit as AVNC 002.

That grant is written to replace the June 25 interim this order replaces. The draft order says Tesla applied on June 3, 2026, asked for interim authority on June 12, and received a June 25, 2026 Interim Compliance Order from Commissioner Louis V. Csoka limited to the Las Vegas Strip corridor and no more than 10 vehicles at a time. Public reporting last week, including the Las Vegas Review-Journal, treated a July 27 action as the 10-car cap. The draft order in today’s binder is the full application, not that interim.

NTA had not posted signed minutes or a signed order at the time this recap was written. The binder copy is the proposed order prepared for the session. Signature lines on that copy are blank.

Sawyer Merritt says the commission approved it

Sawyer Merritt posted that he watched the four-hour August 20 General Session and that the commission approved Tesla’s permit a few minutes before he published. He says today’s action replaces the 10-vehicle interim and authorizes up to 5,000 vehicles over 12 months.

He also reports Tesla representatives at the meeting said they will not deploy 5,000 vehicles at once, and that they will start with a small launch of a few vehicles and grow from there. That is Tesla’s comment at the hearing, as Merritt reported it. Tesla has not published its own statement.

Merritt writes that paid public Robotaxi can start after administrative steps (inspections, insurance, rates). The draft order gives Tesla 120 days after the order to finish compliance items, or the Deputy Commissioner may vacate the order and dismiss the application. There is no official launch date.

Merritt also says the commission told the meeting Tesla could operate statewide if it notifies NTA before expanding the geofence. The written draft order does not say that. Its grant is Clark County, within the Operational Design Domain. Treat statewide expansion as a meeting report, not language in the order we have.

This is still a permit, not a Las Vegas launch

A granted application is not 5,000 Tesla Robotaxis on the Strip. The draft order is explicit about what has to happen before paid rides:

Tesla must provide the rates it will charge before offering transportation to the public. It must notify NTA when the customer-facing app is ready so the Authority can review it for statute and regulation compliance. Each vehicle needs the inspection affidavit NRS 706B.170 requires. The Deputy Commissioner issues AVNC 002 only after those items are verified.

The agenda names both airports. The draft ordering paragraph does not separately authorize airport service. Until a signed order or a later NTA filing is public, do not treat Harry Reid or Henderson Executive as live pickup points.

This is still not autonomous consumer FSD

Consumer FSD (Supervised) has not moved. Hardware 4 is still on 14.3.7. Hardware 3 Model 3/Y is still on 14.1 Lite. Both stay supervised. The driver has to stay attentive and be ready to take over. A Nevada Robotaxi permit is a commercial AVNC filing. It is not a new FSD version and it is not unsupervised consumer FSD.

FSD Update is independent and not affiliated with Tesla, Inc.

Sources

• NTA August 20, 2026 General Session agenda (item 63, docket 26-05015)
• NTA August 20, 2026 General Session binder (draft compliance order, docket 26-05015)
• Sawyer Merritt, August 20
• The June 25 interim this order replaces
• Las Vegas Review-Journal, August 17

Related: Tracker fsdupdate.com. Also on FSD News: HW3 vs HW4 FSD in 2026, Is FSD Supervised worth it in 2026?.

FSD Update is independent and not affiliated with Tesla, Inc.