Tesla has opened its purpose-built Cybercab robotaxi to the general public for the first time in Austin, Texas. Riders hail the vehicle through Tesla's existing robotaxi app. Service is still confined to parts of Austin, leaving the pace of Tesla's expansion as the key question.
Hail It With an App, and a Tesla Without a Steering Wheel Arrives
According to The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press, Tesla began deploying the Cybercab in actual robotaxi service in parts of Austin, Texas, on the 3rd.
The process resembles a conventional ride-hailing service. Passengers book rides through Tesla's existing robotaxi app. Once inside, they operate the features they need through the app and the vehicle's touchscreen.
The biggest difference from Tesla's earlier robotaxis is the vehicle itself. Until now, Austin's robotaxi fleet consisted of Model Y passenger cars, with safety monitors riding along in the early stages. The Cybercab, by contrast, was designed from the outset as a driverless taxi.
The gold-colored two-seater has no steering wheel, no accelerator or brake pedals and no side mirrors. That means there are no manual controls through which a passenger could intervene in driving. Both doors open upward like butterfly wings, and the vehicle includes space for luggage.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk announced the launch with a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, saying the vehicle has no steering wheel and no pedals, urging users to try a ride and predicting that a storm of Cybercabs was coming.
Availability is not yet citywide. Tesla is limiting Cybercab operations to parts of Austin and has not specified when or how far it will widen the service area or expand the fleet.
Tesla Runs on Cameras as Robotaxi Race With Waymo Heats Up
The Cybercab is the centerpiece of the fully autonomous robotaxi strategy Tesla has identified as a core future business. Unlike rivals that rely on lidar and other sensors to map surroundings in three dimensions, Tesla has argued that building autonomy around cameras and neural networks can lower costs.
Tesla remains in a chasing position, however, behind market leader Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet. The Associated Press noted that Tesla trails Waymo in the number of robotaxis and in ride volume, and that the company must prove a camera-only system can navigate roads safely.
Regulation is another hurdle. With no steering wheel, pedals or other manual controls, the Cybercab is structurally different from a conventional vehicle.
Zoox, Amazon's autonomous driving unit, won a federal exemption in July to operate vehicles without such controls, but Tesla has not yet applied for a comparable exemption from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The Cybercab is not currently sold to individual consumers. Tesla is collecting contact information from customers interested in corporate purchases. When it first unveiled a prototype in October 2024, the company said it aimed to price the vehicle below $30,000.
