“In Texas, pretty much anyone can get a [autonomous vehicles] permit who shows up and does a few administrative things,” Carnegie Mellon professor and autonomous vehicle expert Phil Koopman tells The Verge. Due to a bold carve-out in Texas law, local governments are powerless to set their own AV regulations. As of now, there are no licensing or registration requirements for verifying the capabilities of autonomous vehicles, and no set standards for when a carmaker can remove safety drivers. “Simply put, cities in Texas cannot regulate autonomous vehicles,” Richard Mendoza, the interim director of Austin’s Transportation and Public Works Department, wrote in a 2023 memo. Though it’s unclear just how autonomous Tesla robotaxis will be, experts worry its camera-only approach to the technology could cause more incidents.