By now, all the Tesla fans who frequent this site have seen the pictures of the steering yoke on the refreshed Model S. It’s similar in shape to the steering yokes on airplanes. Of course, nobody thinks that the refreshed Model S can fly so there’s no indication that pushing forward on the Model S yoke will make the nose of the Tesla point downward or that pulling back on the yoke will make the nose of the Tesla point upward. That sort of thing is strictly for airplanes.
There’s a reason that steering wheels on cars are round, or nearly round. That reason is that in tight spaces, you sometimes need to turn the wheel more than 180 degrees in order to make the front wheels get all the way to the left or to the right. This is a leftover from when cars sometimes came without power steering. For those of you old enough to remember that long ago time, parking without power steering was a bit more work than we wanted to do. There was more mechanical advantage, and thus less force required, to turn the wheel all the way to the stop if the amount you had to turn the wheel was more than 180 degrees. In order to do that, you had to go hand over hand, and it was helpful if the rim of the steering wheel was pretty much in the same place no matter where the front wheels of the car was facing because when you’re looking out the rear window of the car, you can’t keep track of where the rim of the steering wheel happens to be.
So I started thinking about how Tesla could deal with issues like this now that they’re putting the yoke steering on the Model S. I’d have dropped this essay a week ago if I’d been able to figure it out, but I was unable. Today, I decided to consult the Oracle of YouTube to get an answer. The trouble with consulting YouTube is that some of the people who put up videos aren’t any smarter than I am. I checked out a few of those videos. One had a guy who put a model of a yoke on his regular steering wheel and tried to steer with just that part of the wheel. He could, but it didn’t tell me anything about what the engineers at Tesla were probably thinking. Another guy actually used a hacksaw on his steering wheel to make it into a yoke. He could steer, but that was also not enlightening. Finally, I found a YouTube video that gave a theory that I could get behind.
To me, a steering yoke makes sense only if you don’t need to turn the yoke any more than ninety degrees in either direction, just the way it is in an airplane. That way, there’s no hand-over-hand movement when you’re not looking at the steering wheel. I was stumped by this because steering would be too quick at highway speeds. There are already collisions when someone jerks the steering wheel too hard. These would be more frequent if the steering was so sensitive to slight movements.
The video gives the answer. What you don’t see in the pictures of the yoke steering are pictures of the steering mechanism. Now remember, the person who made this video is theorizing. I’m writing about the video because I believe his theory is correct. The person who made the video goes by the moniker, TenXchange.
Here’s the theory. Tesla is eliminating the traditional rack and pinion steering in which the steering wheel is physically connected to the steering mechanism by a stiff rod. Instead, the steering yoke is electrically connected to the steering mechanism, a steer-by-wire system. That’s helpful for two reasons.
First, there can be a variable steering ratio. When you’re going fast, on the highway, steering the car is less sensitive so a quick jerk on the wheel will make your car point in the direction you want to go, but it won’t send the car into an uncontrolled skid. When you’re going slow, and parking the car, you won’t need to turn the yoke very far to get the wheels in the direction you want them to go, and you won’t need all that hand-over-hand motion of the steering wheel to get the car parked. In between, on city streets when you’re not going as fast, the steering ratio can be more sensitive than on the highway but less sensitive than when parking.
The second reason for having steer-by-wire according to TenXchange is that there will come a time when your Tesla with FSD will actually be autonomous. You may want to send your car out to work as a taxi for you while you stay home and do something else, or you might just want your car to be your chauffeur while you do something else besides driving. I have to say that even though I paid for FSD when I bought my Tesla a year or so ago, I’ll be surprised if this happens in my lifetime. Anyway, if actual FSD does come to pass, and if my car is a much safer driver than most human beings, then I wouldn’t want a human being to be able to take over the driving by just turning the steering wheel or tapping the brake. That could cause an accident.
My car won’t ever have steer by wire or brake by wire since it doesn’t have those things now, and I doubt that Elon Musk is going to recall half a million Teslas with FSD in order to convert them to steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire. But the newer cars, the ones with yoke steering, may well have those features.
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.
Not a Tesla App
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
Not a Tesla App
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
Not a Tesla App
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.
Not a Tesla App
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.
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