Texas runs more driverless metros than any other state. Here is the honest ownership picture.

Four Texas metros carry paying passengers with nobody in the driver’s seat, on law written in 2017. If you live here and you are thinking about owning one of these cars rather than riding in them, this page is the whole picture in one place — including the part where DockDuty has no depot in Texas and has not promised one.

Why Texas got here first

SB 2205 (2017) authorized driverless operation statewide, with no safety driver required, and barred city-by-city rules. SB 2807 later added a TxDMV authorization for commercial operators, enforceable from May 28, 2026 — free, non-expiring, with personal-use vehicles exempt.

The preemption is the load-bearing part. In a state where every city writes its own rules, a fleet negotiates through fifty city halls and any one of them can say no. Texas removed that in 2017, which is why an operator that can run in Austin can run in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio the same way, and why the expansion order became a business decision instead of a political one.

The full plain-English version, with what SB 2807 leaves genuinely open for owners, is here: Texas robotaxi law, in plain English. It is not legal advice and it names the bills so you can check it.

The four metros are not equivalent

This is the part most pages about Texas robotaxi ownership flatten into one number. It should not be flattened, because the car you would buy is a Tesla, and Tesla does not run everywhere in Texas.

Every US metro with live driverless service is tracked on the free US Robotaxi Map, with CSV and JSON downloads, updated as markets open.

The honest status: no DockDuty depot in Texas

What we put in writing

Nobody can honestly tell you what a Cybercab will earn — not us, not anyone, because no privately owned one has completed a paid ride anywhere. So the thing worth comparing between operators is not the upside projection. It is what happens to you if it goes wrong, and whether it is written down before you pay.

Ours is. These are terms of the agreement you sign, not marketing:

• $450 refundable at will until your vehicle is onboarded — no window, no reason, no documentation required (§3.1). We initiate the refund within five business days, with a wire or check fallback if your card has closed.
• You keep title. Always. Nothing in the agreement transfers any ownership interest in any vehicle to DockDuty (§4.3).
• Month-to-month, no minimum term, no early-termination penalty (§4.3).
• Hard fee caps: onboarding never above $1,000 per vehicle, intake balance never above $550, and no other mandatory fees (§2.2).
• Charging electricity is included in the retainer, with no markup on energy (§4.1).
• Your ride percentage cannot be raised while a vehicle is enrolled. The retainer moves only by CPI-U, once a year, on 60 days’ notice, never before your first anniversary (§4.1).
• If we never open, you get everything back — automatically, in full, within 30 days (§3.3).
• Outside date December 31, 2028, extendable in 12-month increments at your option, not ours. We cannot use it to cancel your position while you elect to extend (§3.3).
• If we are acquired, you can leave — full refund of outstanding deposits within 30 days of notice (§8.4).

One we will not overstate: deposits sit in a segregated account kept solely for owner reservation deposits, separate from operating funds, and we will confirm that in writing on request (§2.3). That is a contractual commitment by us. It is not third-party escrow with an independent agent holding the money, and we are not going to call it that.

The whole agreement renders in the checkout before the card field, not after.

Check us the same way you would check anyone

We published ten checks to run on a robotaxi depot company as one of the companies being vetted, including the checks we do not pass cleanly. Four of them take about ten minutes and will tell you most of what you need about anyone in this category:

1. Find the legal entity in a state registry and confirm the name matches the contract. Ours: Dock Duty LLC, Florida, document no. L26000247958.
2. Read the whole governing agreement before you pay, not a summary afterwards.
3. Confirm in writing who holds title to the vehicle.
4. Find out exactly what happens to your money if the depot never opens — the right, the deadline, and the mechanism.

We would rather you run that on us than take our word for anything on this page.

Frequently asked questions

Are robotaxis legal in Texas?

Yes. SB 2205, passed in 2017, authorized driverless operation statewide with no safety driver required, and barred cities from writing their own rules. SB 2807 later added a TxDMV authorization for commercial operators, enforceable from May 28, 2026 — free, non-expiring, and with personal-use vehicles exempt. Four Texas metros run driverless service today: Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

Does DockDuty have a depot in Texas?

No, and none is promised. Depot #1 is targeted for Orlando, Florida in Q4 2026 and no depot lease has been executed anywhere. Texas is the obvious cluster after Florida because it has four driverless metros, more than any other state, but where we build next is shaped by demand we can point to rather than announced in advance. A Texas buyer can reserve a stall today, elect their metro, and have the car earn at depot #1 in the meantime.

Which Texas metro is best for owning a robotaxi?

It depends on which car you are buying, and the honest answer is not the same across the four. Austin, Dallas and Houston all have Tesla operating today, which matters because a Cybercab earns on Tesla’s network. San Antonio has Waymo but not Tesla, so a Cybercab cannot earn there today at all. Austin has the longest operating record and three operators competing for the same rides; Houston has the clearest demand signal at 100,000+ riders before its waitlist dropped; Dallas is where Avis already runs the depot layer for another operator’s fleet.

Can I own a Cybercab from Texas before there is a Texas depot?

Yes — that is what own-from-anywhere means. The reservation attaches to the DockDuty network rather than to one city. You reserve a stall, elect your Texas metro as your preferred market in the flow, and the car earns at depot #1 in Orlando while your preference sits on file for when the network reaches Texas. The $450 deposit is refundable at will until the vehicle is onboarded.

Is DockDuty affiliated with Tesla?

No. DockDuty is an independent company and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or partnered with Tesla, Inc. “Tesla” and “Cybercab” are trademarks of Tesla, Inc., used for descriptive reference only. DockDuty holds no Tesla vehicle allocation, no enrollment right and no commercial agreement of any kind with Tesla, and claims none.

Four driverless metros. No depot promised.

Reserve from any Texas metro today: $450 per stall, fully refundable at will until your vehicle is onboarded, credited in full against the $1,000 onboarding fee. You keep title. Month-to-month. If we never open, you get every dollar back.

Reserve a stall — $450, refundable Read the Texas law first

Own from anywhere — the car earns at the depot. You do not have to live in Texas, or in Florida.