Tesla is putting a firm price on bad passenger behavior in its driverless ride service. The company has introduced a two-tier cleaning fee policy for its robotaxis, and the top tier is clear: if you vomit or leave other “biowaste” in the car, you can be billed up to $150 on top of your fare.
How Tesla’s Cleaning Fees Work
Tesla’s robotaxi policy now splits extra cleaning into two different levels, according to Tesla influencer Sawyer Merritt. A lower tier, around $50, covers things like food spills, heavy dirt or minor stains that go beyond a quick vacuum. The upper tier, up to $150, is reserved for more serious messes, including vomit, blood, other bodily fluids and evidence of smoking that requires deep cleaning and airing out.
NEWS: Tesla has introduced cleaning fees for their Robotaxis.
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) December 23, 2025
• $50: Charged for moderate messes, such as food spills, significant dirt and minor stains.
• $150: Charged for severe messes, such as biowaste or smoking in the vehicle.
Tesla: "We prioritize maintaining a clean… pic.twitter.com/t8BFCcNrrr
If a car is flagged as dirty after a trip, Tesla reviews the condition and, if it decides the vehicle needs extra work, adds the cleaning fee to the rider’s trip receipt. Passengers see the charge in their ride history in the app, with a note indicating it was for cleaning. Disputes are handled through Tesla’s support team rather than an in-app button, so anyone who thinks they were charged unfairly has to contact the company directly.
The idea is familiar from traditional ride-hailing. Uber, for example, already has a similar structure that can reach roughly the same $150 ceiling for severe incidents involving bodily fluids. Tesla is simply adapting that logic to a driverless fleet where the company, not an individual driver, owns and maintains the cars.
Robotaxis That Still Need People To Clean Them
The fee policy comes as Tesla ramps up its robotaxi ambitions. The company is currently testing an autonomous Model S robotaxi variant and has said it has more than 1,000 robotaxis on the road in trial service, but for now, those cars still run with human drivers.
Tesla is also previewing dedicated hardware for a driverless future. The production-ready Cybercab prototype shows the kind of purpose-built interior the company wants to deploy at scale, with materials and layouts designed to be easy to clean and robust under heavy use. Until fully automated cleaning systems arrive, though, human crews still have to deal with spilled drinks and motion-sick riders.
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