Tesla told U.S. regulators that its answers to questions on the safety of its robotaxi deployment in Texas are confidential business information and should not be made public, according to a letter released on Monday.

Analysts said the "low-key" robotaxi launch highlights Tesla's big bid to compete with existing self-driving taxi operators in the US and China, as the sector grows. Musk congratulated Tesla's artificial intelligence and chip design teams on the launch in a post on X, writing that it was "culmination of a decade of hard work".