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Austin launch, scant details
Tesla said it was offering rides in "limited areas of Austin, Texas" in its two-seater Cybercab, a vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals, as CEO Elon Musk has said it is key to transforming the company into a dominant force in driverless vehicles.
“offering rides in "limited areas of Austin, Texas"”
Reuters reported that as of Thursday evening Tesla had posted no live footage of an event and there were no public remarks from Musk or other Tesla executives, even as the company promoted an exclusive "Cybercab launch event" in Austin scheduled for Thursday.
The Reuters report also said Tesla’s robotaxi ride-hailing service uses a network of autonomous Model Ys, some with human safety monitors and some without, and that over time it intends to make the no-steering-wheel Cybercab the main driverless vehicle model operating within a larger robotaxi network.
Reuters added that Tesla updated its robotaxi website on Thursday with details about the Cybercab, including that rides were available only in some parts of Austin, and Tesla did not specify whether it would charge for Cybercabs or if anyone using its app in Austin could secure a ride.
In parallel, TechCrunch said the Cybercab launch is set to happen in Tesla’s hometown of Austin, Texas, and noted that 420 autonomous vehicles were registered in Texas according to the state’s automated vehicle tracker.
Regulatory limits and testing gaps
Reuters said it was unclear how quickly Tesla would be able to deploy the vehicles, pointing to federal regulations that limit the number of vehicles any manufacturer can sell without a steering wheel and pedals.
Reuters also reported that manufacturers can deploy an unlimited number of such vehicles for testing, but that would limit Tesla’s ability to collect fares, while in California Tesla does not have permits to operate a robotaxi service or to test driverless vehicles without a safety driver who can take over in the front seat.
Reuters described real-world testing gaps after the Dallas and Houston launches earlier this year, saying it found long wait times, with sometimes no availability at all.
On three occasions when a reporter managed to get a ride in Dallas, Reuters said the robotaxi would not drop him at his downtown destination within Tesla’s advertised service area and instead left him about a 15-minute walk away.
TechCrunch added that Tesla’s launch strategy depends on the outcome, and it cited Ashok Elluswamy’s post on X that "the streets won’t be the same anymore."
Fleet numbers and next questions
State records cited by Reuters showed Tesla had 420 autonomous vehicles registered in Texas as of Wednesday evening, including 45 Cybercab vehicles, while earlier on Wednesday state records indicated Tesla had registered 314 vehicles.
“including 45 Cybercab vehicles”
Reuters also said Alphabet’s Waymo, the current U.S. leader in driverless taxis, has 988 vehicles registered in the state, and it framed the Cybercab as part of Tesla’s effort to build a larger robotaxi network.
Benzinga reported that Texas’ public automated-vehicle records now show 45 Cybercabs under Tesla Robotaxi, LLC, alongside 269 Model Ys, and said the Cybercab count rose from an initial seven vehicles to 45.
Benzinga also quoted Tesla’s quarterly filing describing Cybercab as a "purpose-built autonomous EV designed to be the workhorse of our Robotaxi fleet," and said engineering test drives of production Cybercabs had begun on public roads and employee rides started at Gigafactory Texas in July.
The Seattle Times (Bloomberg) said Tesla’s Cybercab event is invite-only and that it’s unclear whether the company plans to immediately deploy the vehicles for broad commercial service or offer demonstration rides in specific areas, with Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco saying "If Thursday’s event is merely an unveiling with limited vehicles committed to the road, we expect the stock to sell off."