LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Tesla moved Monday to advance its robotaxi ambitions in Nevada, submitting a comprehensive operational plan to the Nevada Transportation Authority that outlines safety protocols, insurance coverage, and a phased deployment schedule for up to 5,000 autonomous vehicles on Las Vegas streets. The filing, confirmed by NTA docket records, represents the most concrete regulatory step yet in what would be the largest driverless ride-hail rollout in US history.

The plan details a three-stage launch beginning in the resort corridor along the Las Vegas Strip, where Tesla intends to operate fully driverless Model Y vehicles equipped with its latest Full Self-Driving hardware suite. Company representatives told regulators that remote monitoring operators based in Austin, Texas would oversee fleet performance in real time, with human safety drivers available as a contingency during the first 90 days of commercial operation.

Nevada regulators have been among the more permissive in the country on autonomous vehicle testing, having granted provisional approvals to Waymo and other operators in recent years. Industry analysts note that Tesla's application is unusual in its scale — Waymo's own commercial fleet in San Francisco and Phoenix numbers in the hundreds, making Tesla's 5,000-vehicle target a significant escalation of ambition that has drawn both investor excitement and skepticism from safety advocates.

The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety issued a statement Monday urging the NTA to require independent third-party safety audits before any commercial passengers are carried, citing unresolved questions about Tesla's camera-only sensor approach compared with the lidar-equipped systems used by competitors. The group called on Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo's administration to intervene and impose additional oversight conditions.

Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but CEO Elon Musk posted on X that the Las Vegas launch would be "the beginning of the autonomous transport revolution in America," echoing remarks he made at Tesla's annual shareholder meeting in May. Wall Street reacted cautiously, with Tesla shares edging up 1.2 percent in morning trading as investors weighed the regulatory timeline against the company's history of delayed product launches.