Tesla Robotaxi Loses MKBHD's Phone During Test Drive; Uses Waymo for Tracking Across Town
In August 2025, YouTuber Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) visited Austin, Texas, to film a comparison video between Tesla's new Robotaxi service and Google's Waymo Robotaxi. During his Tesla Robotaxi test drive, he inadvertently left his iPhone in the back seat.
At first, the Tesla Robotaxi appeared to be heading back towards the drop-off location. However, it continued past the area, heading south, leaving MKBHD in a predicament. He considered running to catch the vehicle but decided against it due to the heat and the distance.
In an attempt to track his phone, MKBHD called an Uber, only to find that the autonomous Waymo vehicle he booked had no driver. He then tried to ping his phone using his Apple Watch, but the Tesla operator did not respond.
Despite the initial confusion, Tesla's safety driver, who was in the passenger seat of the Robotaxi, eventually retrieved the phone and dropped it off at a Tesla service center. MKBHD was informed about this by a Tesla employee over the phone.
This incident highlights the current challenges with Tesla's Robotaxi service when it comes to handling forgotten items. The process for recovering lost items such as phones is not fully automated or seamless. Instead, it relies on human intervention—either a safety driver or Tesla personnel—to recover and return the items.
As of 2025, the Tesla Robotaxi service remains invite-only, which may limit user feedback and potentially complicate item recovery for non-invitees. There is no public indication that Tesla Robotaxis have a dedicated automated protocol for returning forgotten items if the user cannot contact support.
This incident serves as a reminder that while autonomous vehicles are becoming more common, there are still kinks to be worked out in the system. For now, if a customer forgets an item like a phone inside a Tesla Robotaxi and cannot use the app to reach Tesla, recovery will likely depend on human retrieval coordinated through app-based support or safety drivers, especially when the user's phone with the app is lost inside the vehicle.
[1] Based on reports from Automotive News, Electric Vehicle News and Reviews, News Opinion, TorqueNews Hot Topics, and Tesla. [5] This point was not directly mentioned in the provided bullet points, but it is relevant to the discussion of future lost item recovery methods in autonomous vehicles.
- MKBHD, frustrated, decided to buy a smartphone-compatible gadget to prevent similar situations in the future, considering the current inefficiencies of lost item recovery in Tesla's Robotaxi service.
- In the near future, as advanced technology continues to evolve, one can envision smartphones being integrated with autonomous vehicles to facilitate seamless lost item recovery, eliminating the need for human intervention.
