October 10th was Tesla’s spectacular ‘We, Robot’ robotaxi event, and now we know a lot more about Tesla’s upcoming robotaxi – officially named the Cybercab – than ever before.
So, grab your Tesla-stamped BBQ burgers and put on your 12 gallon hat, we’re going to take a look at everything we know about Tesla’s Cybercab.
Exterior
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The Cybercab showed up to ‘We, Robot’ with both a front and rear lightbar, similar to the Cybertruck. However, unlike the truck – it’s not stainless steel. Instead, the prototypes that were at the robotaxi event arrived with aluminum body panels painted silver.
While the exterior finish won’t be as tough-as-nails as the Cybertruck, the Cybercab is designed to be cheaply mass-produced, so this decision makes sense. While there was early talk about using a stainless steel “exoskeleton,” it appears Tesla decided that aluminum and steel body panels would be easier and/or cheaper to manufacture.
While many initial concepts thought the Cybercab may only include three wheels, it does indeed have four wheels like a normal car.
And of those four, only the front two did the steering – so no rear-wheel steering here. Speaking of the wheels, they were mostly covered up with a disc-shaped plate, making them extremely aerodynamic. Tesla also painted the sidewalls of the tires silver, leaving them looking super slim in comparison to the size of the wheel.
Looking at the whole vehicle, the Cybercab doesn’t have Tesla’s iconic glass roof – but a simpler metal roof. The windows are not frameless either – they are framed (metal around the glass opening), which makes them easier to maintain and produce. All these changes are clearly aimed at reducing the overall cost of the vehicle, fitting its robotic taxi role.
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The one oddball in terms of price-to-function ratio is the butterfly doors. Cybercab’s butterfly doors are super impressive – and strike a pose just as iconically as the Model X. We’re interested to see what Tesla has planned for these automatic doors – as they may be difficult to maintain and service in colder climates given snow and ice build-up.
Interior
On the interior, the Cybercab comfortably seats two adults with large, padded seats. In these prototype vehicles, the seats are not ventilated, but they are heated. The seats themselves were fairly simple in comparison to Tesla’s other seat designs, even when compared to the simpler Mexican Model 3 with its fabric seats.
Tesla has made the overall interior design very simplistic and easy to clean. They showed off a new automatic vacuum and scrubbing unit that was cleaning the robotaxi’s seats and screens – so these seats are likely intended to take some punishment. And the screen will likely need to be cleaned often. There were no other major controls in the vehicle to clean – no steering wheel, no pedals.
However, the interior is classic Tesla—super spartan, stylish, and clean, with an extremely large 20.5” center display intended to display trip progress and entertainment. In comparison, the Cybertruck currently has the largest display in any Tesla, with an 18.5” screen. The Model 3 and Model Y use a 15” screen. Unsurprisingly, it looked like both video games and movies and TV shows would be available in the Cybercab.
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Two drink holders are also located just in front and below the center armrest. Just under the drink holders (towards the passengers) are the buttons to open and close the doors. The doors normally close automatically when the passenger(s) buckle up, but they can also be closed manually.
As expected, the controls for the windows are on the doors, so nothing too special there. Tesla has only shown the white interior so far, with black trim throughout the interior, including the carpet floor and plastic headliner. We’re hoping that Tesla also introduces a black interior – even with how resilient Tesla’s whites are – a black interior is likely to better last through the day-to-day punishment a taxi goes through.
FSD Hardware/AI
At the event, Elon Musk confirmed that Cybercab would be shipping with an “upsized” Hardware 5/AI 5. It looks like AI5 has mostly the same camera layout as AI4—with two (+1 fake) cameras at the top of the windshield. The car also features a front bumper camera, the usual two B-pillar cameras, and one rear-facing camera.
The Cybercab's rear end has a fairly large amount of storage—the rear hatch opens upwards and reveals a sizeable cavity. From some rough estimates, it will be possible to comfortably throw 3-4 large suitcases back there, along with a few other items.
Internally, there’s less space, but as there is no center storage console, there is a large amount of legroom. If you potentially needed extra space, you could put a backpack on the floor of the Cybercab between your feet, and still have plenty of space to stretch.
Release Date
Elon acknowledged he’s been overly optimistic about timelines and relented that production for Cybercab should begin no later than 2027. However, he did mention 2026 as a likely start date.
Now that the Cybercab has been unveiled, we’ll likely start seeing design and build prototypes on the roads in Texas and California – where Tesla plans to start Unsupervised FSD – sometime in late 2026. More vehicles will show up in 2027.
Price
In a somewhat surprising move, Tesla announced that they’ll also sell the Cybercab to anyone who wants to buy it, whether it’s for personal use or to operate their own fleet of autonomous taxis. Tesla announced that they plan to sell the Cybercab for under $30,000 USD. Given the lack of steering wheel and pedals, we’re not sure whether the US Federal EV Rebate or the Canadian iZEV rebates would be applicable to these Cybercabs, but we’ll see how that pans out in the future. Both of these rebate programs are set to expire before the Cybercab hits the road.
Cybercab Hubs – Cleaning & Charging
Elon also confirmed that the Cybercab has inductive charging – a first for a fleet-scale EV. It seems that Cybercabs will likely belong to “hubs” where they can be charged and get cleaned. Whether these hubs are Tesla-owned facilities or consumer-owned is yet to be determined.
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Tesla also showed off a very short clip of the Cybercab getting cleaned with robotic arms. The cost and complexity of this are likely to drive a model where Tesla provides the facilities for charging and cleaning while owners simply let their vehicles be charged or cleaned as required.
We’re excited to hear more details about how exactly Tesla intends to build out these potential hubs and more details about the upcoming Cybercab. Now that the event has passed, we should start to see a steady flow of new information as Elon or other Tesla executives share new details.
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Following customer requests, Tesla has once again returned FSD Transfers for North America. This comes after some new details we received on FSD Supervised and Unsupervised at the recent Q1 2025 Earnings Call.
Vox Populi, Vox Dei … FSD Transfer is back
All countries (in NA), all S3XY + @cybertruck (excl Foundation Series & Launch Series)
This latest round of FSD transfers doesn’t have a specific time limit - so if you’re in the market for a new vehicle and were worried about transferring FSD from a HW3 vehicle - now is the best chance.
This transfer opportunity is applicable for any new vehicle purchases, including the Model S, 3, X, Y, as well as the Cybertruck. The only vehicles it doesn’t apply to are the Foundation-Series Cybertruck or a Launch-Series Model Y, which already come with FSD included.
If you’re conducting an FSD transfer, you’ll need to reach out to your Tesla delivery coordinator through the Tesla app to confirm you’re eligible and to get the process started.
Note that once you take delivery, FSD access is removed from your older vehicle, regardless if you plan to trade in your vehicle or keep it.
Canada and Mexico
For those in Canada and Mexico, there’s some good news. This opportunity is available for customers in those countries as well, however, new vehicle orders are currently paused in Canada and Mexico for unknown reasons.
Running Offers
There are also several other offers running in North America, with the country flags indicating which countries their available in:
0% Financing on new Model 3 Orders (60mo, 0.99% for 72mo) 🇺🇸
Deep Blue Metallic and Pearl White are currently free on a new Model 3 Performance 🇺🇸
Original Model Y Owners are receiving $2,000 off the purchase of a Refreshed Model Y 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇲🇽
Free Supercharging on the Model S and Model X 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇲🇽
Free Supercharging on the Foundation-Series Cybertruck 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇲🇽
Tesla’s long-awaited ambitions for a fully autonomous Robotaxi network powered by the futuristic, control-less Cybercab have finally started to take shape.
During their Q1 2025 earnings call, Tesla shared new details about its Robotaxi network, including that the network will start with new Model Ys. The Cybercab will join the network in 2026.
Robotaxi Plans
Tesla confirmed during the Earnings Call that it is on track to conduct the pilot launch of its Robotaxi network in Austin in June 2025. The first vehicles deployed for this service won’t be Cybercabs, as production for those is still in the prototyping stage.
However, Tesla did outline part of their plan for the Robotaxi network rollout. The initial aim is to begin driverless operations in Austin and then expand the service to other cities within the United States by the end of 2025. Interestingly, Tesla is also testing in California - albeit with safety drivers at this time.
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Looking further ahead, there are ambitious plans to ramp up operations to have millions of vehicles operating autonomously within the network by the end of 2026. While substantial revenue generation won’t be immediate, Tesla anticipates that the Robotaxi network will start to “meaningfully move the financial needle” in the second half of 2026.
Tesla also highlighted the current real-world benefits that FSD is already offering today—and will be able to offer to many more people in the near future.
These include reducing effort and time spent on daily commuting or transit, as well as improving mobility for customers with disabilities. Tesla plans to emphasize some of these community stories and wants to highlight the advantages and capabilities of FSD to improve people’s lives.
Robotaxi App and Robotaxi Vehicle UI
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After the call, Tesla AI also shared a video showcasing the Robotaxi interface in the Tesla app, as well as some footage that included the in-vehicle UI, at least as it currently stands.
The video shows Tesla employees using and testing Robotaxi features, although there are safety drivers in place. It looks like there is already a set of well-integrated UI mechanisms for both the front and rear screen when in Robotaxi mode.
Tesla is testing this today, and this network has already completed 1,500 trips, totaling approximately 15,000 miles. The system is being tested for vehicle allocation, mission control, and remote assistance operations.
Remote Operators
Inevitably, edge cases or unique situations will come up, and they will be difficult to handle. For these cases, where a Robotaxi vehicle gets stuck or requires assistance, Tesla will likely implement remote support.
While they didn’t completely confirm remote support operators on the Earnings Call, Tesla has previously posted positions for Teleoperator Engineers for Robotaxi, and an AI T=team member posted on LinkedIn about testing for remote assistance operations.
Scaling Up
Tesla initially intends to deploy a relatively small fleet in Austin, with its pilot beginning with about 10 to 20 vehicles on day 1. They will scale up gradually as the systems are validated and operations are refined, and the target is for anyone visiting Austin to be able to hail a robotaxi by the end of June or early July 2025.
Scaling Out
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Tesla’s confidence in scaling out stems from its generalized approach with FSD. The team believes that once FSD is thoroughly verified and capable in a few diverse North American cities, deploying it to any other North American city should be technically feasible. After all, driving regulations don’t vary much from one major city to another, except for things like no right turns on red lights.
The primary limitation with scaling out geographically is expected to be securing regulatory approvals in different regions and jurisdictions. While the principles of Tesla’s FSD are expected to apply globally, as with the China rollout, regulation will continue to be a considerable hurdle.
Cybercab
FSD Supervised ride-hailing service is live for an early set of employees in Austin & San Francisco Bay Area.
We've completed over 1.5k trips & 15k miles of driving.
This service helps us develop & validate FSD networks, the mobile app, vehicle allocation, mission control &… pic.twitter.com/pYVfhi935W
Tesla’s fully autonomous, two-seater vehicle, the Cybercab, is also being developed. While volume production for the Cybercab won’t begin until 2026, Tesla is already undergoing sample production validation. The first actual Cybercab builds are expected to be completed near the end of Q2 2025, and we’re excited to see if anything changes from the prototypes shown at We, Robot.
Tesla intends to build Cybercab at Giga Texas, and the production line is on schedule, according to Tesla. Cybercab production will not require a new building and will be built inside the existing Giga Texas factory.
Unboxed Method
Tesla's Shareholder Deck for Q1 2025 is now out, and we're 40 minutes away from the Earnings Call.
It seems Tesla won't be using the unboxed process for its more affordable model - which is a new vehicle.
The Cybercab’s production and low-cost methodology heavily rely upon Tesla’s innovative new unboxed manufacturing method. Tesla’s executive team mentioned that progress and implementation with this new manufacturing solution was going well, and it will be key to lowering the cost of production while considerably raising the level of automation.
Tesla has already achieved key milestones with this method, including successfully integrating large sub-assemblies and resolving challenges related to connecting portions of the vehicle's ceiling during the process. They have also successfully completed corrosion testing related to the new assembly method, as well as begun initial crash testing for the Cybercab.
All of that and more will eventually be incorporated into other vehicle production lines, and the Cybertruck is already benefiting from some aspects of these developments. With a final ambition of achieving a 5-second cycle time per Cybercab, Tesla has come a long way—but it still has quite a bit to go. They’ve managed to meet a 33-second cycle time for the Model Y at Giga Shanghai between two production lines, but 5 seconds per vehicle is quite ambitious.
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With all that said, between Robotaxi and Cybercab, there is a lot of interesting news coming from Tesla. We expect this to continue throughout the year as Tesla launches its network and then aims to release FSD Unsupervised to customers, with a potential price increase.