A robotaxi would struggle to make a profit in Sandton at current costs, according to an analysis by TechCentral. The publication compared what riders pay in Johannesburg with the estimated running costs of driverless cars.
Bloomberg priced a 9.5km Johannesburg trip on Uber Electric at R82, or about R8.63/km. Uber’s commission in South Africa has historically been about a quarter of the fare. That would leave a robotaxi on Uber’s platform with about R6.47/km.
Morgan Stanley estimates running costs of about $0.74 a mile for Tesla and $1.36 for Waymo. At about R16.41 to the dollar, that is R7.55/km and R13.87/km, TechCentral said.
At those figures, a Tesla robotaxi would lose about R1/km in Sandton after Uber’s cut. A Waymo car would lose far more. Only Elon Musk’s own target of about 20 US cents a mile, or about R2.04/km, would make money.
Tesla could skip the commission by running its own network, as it does in Austin. But TechCentral said the Morgan Stanley figure would still leave almost no margin. It is also not clear if the estimates include empty trips to pick up riders.
The price of the car is the other problem. Musk has promised a Cybercab price of under $30 000. That is about R490 000 before shipping, and roughly R615 000 after South Africa’s 25% customs duty on imported EVs.
By comparison, the electric cars used by fleet partner Valternative Energy cost about R190 000, Bloomberg reported. Petrol and diesel cars from the EU face a lower duty of 18%.
Tesla’s two-seat Cybercab has no steering wheel or pedals. It opened to public rides on Tesla’s paid robotaxi service in Austin in September.
South African law is not ready for such cars. Transport department spokesman Collen Msibi told TechCentral that the legislation has no provisions “for vehicles with no drivers”.
In its 2020/2021 annual performance plan, the department said it would “develop regulations for the introduction of such technology”. No such regulations have been published.
Electric e-hailing is still small in South Africa. Uber’s electric service launched in Johannesburg in November 2025 with 70 cars. By the end of March it had more than 120, mostly in the Sandton and Rosebank area.
Bolt launched an electric category in Cape Town in May and is aiming for 500 EVs by the end of 2026. Bolt said it has around 40 000 drivers in South Africa.
Vodacom and SmartOps Fleet want to put up to 55 000 vehicles on e-hailing platforms within nine to 12 months, Engineering News reported. About 66% of them would be electric.
Msibi said there is no national count of e-hailing cars, because provinces license them. He said centralised data is not available to show how many are electric.
Electric cars are cheaper to run. Valternative’s Mahomed Jeewa told Bloomberg that about R160 of charging gives the same range as R400 of petrol.
Most drivers rent their cars for about R2 500 a week, including maintenance and insurance. Johannesburg driver Thandiwe Mlinjana said she kept about R2 600 in her best week, after rent and charging.
“If they gave us the option to buy the electric cars instead of renting them, it would be 10 times better,” she said.
Supporters of robotaxis point to road safety. South Africa recorded 11 418 road deaths in 2025, with human behaviour the leading cause, according to the Road Traffic Management Corporation.
Uber has committed more than US$10-billion to robotaxis in at least 28 cities by 2028. None of those cities is reported to be in Africa.
Source: this article is based on reporting by TechCentral. Image: TechCentral. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.