New Tesla Model Y Robotaxis add full camera cleaning hardware

Tesla’s newest Model Y Robotaxis built in Austin now carry three hardware changes aimed at keeping their vision system clear in daily service.

The most visible change is a washer for the rear camera. This unit helps clear dirt, salt and road grime from the lens, a common problem in bad weather and on winter roads.

Test footage from recent cold‑weather driving shows the rear glass and bumper coated in slush, yet the camera area staying clean long after the rest of the car is dirty.

Tesla has also equipped the side repeater cameras with their own washers. These cameras, mounted near the B‑pillars, feed critical data for lane changes, cross‑traffic checks and 360‑degree awareness.

With cleaning hardware in those positions, the car can keep lateral views usable for longer periods in rain or snow, and that matters for a vehicle expected to operate all day without a human driver stepping out to wipe lenses.

The third change is at the front camera housing. New Austin‑built Robotaxis have black lines framing the housing, which many observers see as an added seal around the unit.

Owners and service reports have long described a thin fog or haze on some front cameras over time, linked to off‑gassing from interior plastics and other materials. A tighter seal could reduce that internal fogging and cut down on service visits to clean cameras from the inside.

Video: Spray nozzle in action

Repeater camera cleaning in action on Robotaxi Model Y cars

Spray nozzle in action: https://t.co/qqE32wDheD pic.twitter.com/zyIMIXAMUO

— Greggertruck (@greggertruck) January 23, 2026

Addressing a known weak point

Tesla’s approach to autonomy depends on a vision‑only sensor suite, with multiple cameras feeding neural networks trained on large volumes of driving data. For that system, clear lenses are as important as clean windshields are for human drivers. When cameras are blocked by mud or road spray, driver assistance features can shut down and force the human behind the wheel to take full control.

For a Robotaxi without a driver, that is a bigger problem. As one high‑profile tester put it, “Unsupervised can’t have customers wiping cameras.” The new washers and revised front housing seem aimed at reducing those interruptions.

These hardware tweaks arrive just as Tesla begins offering unsupervised Robotaxi rides in Austin. Earlier pilot runs kept a human supervisor in the front passenger seat with the ability to stop the car in an emergency. Newer operations in the city rely on vehicles that run without that in‑car safety monitor, though they still sit within a defined service area and under regulatory oversight.

The Robotaxis are based on modified Model Y units rather than the future dedicated Cybercab design. Internal references to a “Halo” program describe extra hardware on these cars, including a second telecommunications module for more reliable data links, location tracking and contact with remote staff.

Tesla has hinted at “comprehensive” cleaning setups for future fleets, including service at charging hubs where Robotaxis can be washed, inspected and updated while they sit idle.

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