Tesla’s Cybercab robotaxi rollout: the biggest news and announcements – The Verge

I spent an hour riding inside Tesla’s steering-wheel-free Cybercab

2026-09-09T12:07:16-04:00

Getting out of a taxi shouldn't be a shameful experience. Yet I find myself feeling particularly embarrassed while exiting a Tesla Cybercab as it partially blocks a narrow road outside a popular Austin swimming hole. As a cadre of annoyed, sweaty Texan parking spot hunters pile up around it, the gold-painted two-seater just sits there obliviously, lights flashing. I try not to make eye contact, but I can feel the stares of frustrated pool-goers around me, whose earnest attempt at a peaceful outdoor reprieve from the heat had just been interrupted by yet another not-quite-finished glimpse into the future.

Tesla's long-awaited, two-seater Cy …

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Tesla Cybercab doesn’t have any manual controls — but it does have a virtual joystick

2026-09-08T12:15:59-04:00

The Tesla Cybercab is notable for what it lacks, namely a steering wheel and pedal. By design, there is no way for this vehicle to be manually controlled - or so we thought. Less than a week after the Cybercab was officially launched in Austin, Texas, some riders have discovered the Cybercab's secret manual controls that appears to be intended only for Tesla employees.

In at least two videos posted on X, Cybercab riders are encountering a virtual joystick that appears intended to control the vehicle's movements. A square-shaped screen appears in the lower left corner of the central display, with a toggle in the middle for manual driving. I …

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Tesla Cybercab is barely on the road and it’s already under investigation

2026-09-04T10:32:05-04:00

Elon Musk's gilded robot car barely made it on public roads before federal regulators launched an investigation into the vehicle's lack of traditional features - many of which are required by law.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was opening an audit query (AQ) into the Tesla Cybercab "to examine the process and technical data on which Tesla relied when certifying the Cybercab and related issues." At issue is the absence of certain design features such as sideview mirrors, pedals, and steering wheel - all of which are required under the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, or FMVSS.

"Among other things, NHTSA …

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The unusually muted Tesla Cybercab launch

2026-09-07T14:18:39-04:00

At a private, closed-door event in Austin, Texas today, Tesla officially launched its gilded car of the future: the Cybercab. It's a huge milestone for Elon Musk, who has been hyping the imminent arrival of driverless cars for years and has bet the future of his company on AI, autonomous vehicles, and humanoid robots.

It was an unusually muted event, with no livestream, no journalists, and a very short invite list comprised mostly of pro-Tesla content creators. Elon Musk wasn't even there, which was especially strange given the years he's spent hyping Tesla as a leader in AI and robotics. The Tesla influencers who were planning live shows w …

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Elon Musk’s robotaxi heterodoxy gets put to the test

2026-09-03T09:35:42-04:00

Believe it or not, the Tesla Cybercab is coming.

Nearly two years after Elon Musk first unveiled the gold-tinted, gull-wing-door sporting, steering-wheel-free, two-seaters as the future of Tesla's autonomy efforts, the company is finally putting them into operation as part of its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas. Public rides are here, and as Musk fans will assert, the era of Tesla's robotaxi dominance will begin.

Or will it? Musk has bet his company - and his trillion-dollar pay package - on a stripped down, barebones autonomous driving system that eschews multiple sensors used by all of his rivals in favor of a camera-only approach. T …

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In a swipe at Tesla, Waymo says ‘cameras… aren’t enough’

2026-08-28T06:02:18-04:00

As Tesla gears up for the official launch of its steering wheel and pedal-less Cybercabs, Waymo is issuing a stark warning about Elon Musk's approach to autonomous driving.

Srikanth Thirumalai, Waymo's VP of Onboard Software, doesn't specifically call out Musk or Tesla in a blog post, published Wednesday, entitled "10 AI Lessons from Driving 200+ Million Fully Autonomous Miles." But his intention is clear: Tesla's system is insufficient for the task of fully autonomous driving.

"Cameras are incredible, but they aren't enough," Thirumalai writes. "For years, there's been a debate over whether cameras alone could solve full autonomy. Now, af …

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Tesla is finally launching the Cybercab — let’s hope it’s ready

2026-08-19T04:58:05-04:00

Tesla Cybercabs are lined up on a lot at Tesla Giga Texas in Austin, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. | Image: Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images

The Tesla Cybercab, that golden two-seater central to Elon Musk's robo-supremacist ambitions, is finally nearing its public launch. Whether or not the no-steering wheel and no-pedal vehicle is actually ready for public roads, let alone customers, remains very much in doubt.

According to The Information, Tesla is planning a public launch of the Cybercab in Austin, Texas, as soon as this month. The driverless vehicle has been popping up around the country, although often with a steering wheel and pedals, as employees are continuing to gather data. Tesla employees have been testing the fully driverless version on private roads around the compa …

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Tesla’s robotaxi promises are clashing with reality

2026-07-24T04:42:15-04:00

In an earnings call yesterday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk did his best to paint a positive portrait of the company's robotaxi program. New cities are being added, more miles are being driven, and more people are experiencing Tesla's unsupervised vehicles.

But Musk's typical bullishness seemed to be absent from the call, as the occasional trillionaire sought to temper expectations about the program's future.

"We're going as fast as humanly possible in scaling Robotaxi," Musk said, "while trying to ensure that we do not harm anyone at all and ideally do not even run over a pet."

Musk's insistence that Tesla's robotaxi service was growing is clas …

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The Cybercab is the lightest, most efficient Tesla ever made

2026-06-16T11:02:39-04:00

Against all odds, the Tesla Cybercab is in production. And while Elon Musk's company may not have a very coherent plan for the tiny, autonomous two-seater, it's still taking the necessary steps to certify the EV's legitimacy. As such, Tesla recently filed paperwork with the Environmental Protection Agency that reveal many of the Cybercab's specs, including its weight, battery size, and preliminary range estimates.

What these documents reveal is the lightest, most range efficient vehicle Tesla has ever produced - and quite possibly one of the most efficient EVs ever produced.

The EPA filings confirm the Cybercab runs on a single front-mou …

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Tesla is finally doing unsupervised robotaxi rides

2026-01-22T16:23:19-05:00

Tesla is finally doing unsupervised robotaxi trips in Austin, Texas, according to a video posted on X. Elon Musk reposted the video, congratulating Tesla's AI team for the milestone.

For months, Tesla's robotaxis in Austin and San Francisco have included safety monitors with access to a kill switch in case of emergency - a fallback that Waymo currently doesn't need for its commercial robotaxi service. The safety monitor sits in the passenger seat in Austin and in the driver seat in San Francisco. Neither service is fully open to the public yet, relying instead on customer waitlists.

Musk has said that the human monitors are only there bec …

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