Tesla plans to host an exclusive, invitation-only unveiling of the Cybercab, a two-seat autonomous vehicle the company intends to deploy within its driverless fleet in Texas. A number of Cybercabs have begun operating on roads across Texas.
State records showed 420 Tesla autonomous vehicles registered in Texas as of Wednesday night, including 45 Cybercabs, according to figures reviewed by a news outlet. While Tesla's current autonomous ride-hailing fleet relies on Model Y vehicles, the automaker has positioned the Cybercab as a dedicated platform for that service going forward.
The occasion may shed light on a timeline for when Cybercabs will be accessible to fare-paying members of the public. Reports from the previous month indicated that Tesla was planning to deploy Cybercabs in Austin, having originally aimed for an August launch. The occasion establishes a fixed target date for the initiative, though it does not amount to a formal public announcement.
Regulations cap the number of autonomous vehicles automakers may offer for public sale without traditional driver controls, though no such ceiling applies to trial deployments. No timeline has been provided by Tesla regarding when its 45 Cybercabs registered in Texas will begin carrying paying passengers.
At present, Austin is expected to be the first city to receive a preview of Tesla's next-generation robotaxi. When asked on X whether Austin would see a large deployment of Cybercabs, Musk replied affirmatively. The vehicles rely solely on Tesla's camera-based self-driving system, whereas rivals such as Waymo employ a combination of cameras, lidar, and radar.
The company contends that its methodology could reduce the cost of self-driving vehicles while making them more straightforward to deploy at scale. Waymo has stated in public communications that camera-only systems are insufficient to support autonomous vehicle operation at scale.
Questions have been raised about the options available to riders if an autonomous vehicle — one without a steering wheel or pedals — encounters a problem. Alam, a Houston-based Tesla owner since 2022, noted that the vehicle's Full Self-Driving feature had advanced considerably over that period, though he still needed to take manual control at times. He estimated that the system faltered roughly 20 percent of the time — a rate he described as lower than in earlier years — and recounted a recent post-update incident in which the car applied its brakes unprompted on what appeared to be a clear road.
He deactivated the autonomous driving feature and completed the journey manually, noting that access to a manual override steering wheel would give him greater confidence in the system.
