The Cybercab Is Almost Here. Now Comes the Hard Part

Tesla is getting ready to show off its new Cybercab — a gold-colored, driverless car with no steering wheel — at a big event in Austin, Texas. The company hopes the Cybercab will change the way people get rides around their cities. Tesla already runs a small ride-hailing service in Austin and a few other cities, and this event is meant to officially launch the Cybercab as part of that service. But experts say that making the car is just one piece of a very hard puzzle.

Tesla first showed a Cybercab prototype at a flashy event in 2024. Since then, the company has been testing the car on real streets in Austin. Before this week's event, Tesla added 51 Cybercabs to the list of vehicles allowed to drive in Texas, along with 263 of its Model Y cars. The testing often includes a safety monitor sitting in the front passenger seat, ready to step in if something goes wrong.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made big promises about the Cybercab. When someone online asked if the cars would flood Austin, Musk simply said, 'Yes.' Ashok Elluswamy, the head of AI software at Tesla, also posted online that 'the streets won't be the same anymore.' Still, many details about the business plan are unclear, including whether the cars will only be used for ride-hailing or also sold to regular customers.

One big question is whether Tesla's software is ready. A self-driving car needs very smart computer programs to handle busy, unpredictable roads. Seth Goldstein, an analyst who studies Tesla for Morningstar, said the software is 'the most important piece' and that the Cybercab only matters if it can navigate safely. Tesla has not yet proven it can make this work on a large scale.

Tesla's approach to self-driving is different from its main competitor, Waymo. Tesla relies only on cameras to help its cars see the road, while Waymo uses cameras plus lidar and radar — tools that detect objects using light and radio waves. Waymo even wrote in a blog post that 'cameras are incredible, but they aren't enough.' This is one of the biggest debates in the world of self-driving cars.

Tesla already offers a product called Full Self-Driving, which costs $99 a month and can do tasks like changing lanes and stopping at red lights. However, drivers still have to pay close attention and be ready to take over at any moment. The top car safety agency in the U.S. opened an investigation into crashes involving this system in 2024, and that investigation is still going on.

Running a robotaxi service is also very expensive, and companies need to make sure their cars are picking up passengers as much as possible. J. D. Alexander, who advises businesses on driverless car operations, explained that success comes down to how well the cars are used, charged, cleaned, and fixed. Getting all of those details right is harder than it might seem.

Other robotaxi companies have teamed up with partners to handle these tough jobs, but Tesla prefers to do everything on its own. The company is exploring using its service centers as bases for Cybercabs and has hinted at using a 'cleaning robot' to wash the cars. Musk has also promised that Tesla will sell Cybercabs directly to customers before the end of 2026, though many details still need to be worked out.