Tesla is building anticipation around its long-awaited Cybercab update, with the company’s Robotaxi business highlighting the vehicle’s most distinctive feature: a driverless design without a steering wheel or pedals.
The Robotaxi business posted “no steering wheel, no pedals” on X ahead of an invite-only event in Austin, Texas. Another post encouraged riders to “try it out” in the city, while CEO Elon Musk wrote, “A storm of Cybercabs.”
The event was held on Thursday and was not livestreamed. Attendees, including influencers who create content around Musk and his companies, agreed not to record or disclose certain information without Tesla’s permission. Tesla also released promotional videos of the Cybercab, which it first unveiled nearly 2 years ago.
Tesla’s stock gained 5.4% during regular trading on Thursday.
The Cybercab is designed as a driverless 2-seater with butterfly doors and no steering wheel or pedals. Tesla has been testing versions of the purpose-built robotaxi with human drivers and traditional controls across multiple U.S. markets.
Videos shared online showed Cybercab vehicles operating on public streets in Austin without a driver or steering wheel visible inside.
Investors are closely watching the rollout as Tesla seeks to challenge Waymo’s early lead in the U.S. robotaxi market. Tesla currently offers Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which still requires a human driver to remain ready to take control.
A robotaxi tracker estimates Tesla has slightly more than 200 vehicles registered as “unsupervised” in the U.S., operating in approved geofenced areas across cities including Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando and Tampa.
Waymo, meanwhile, operates commercial robotaxi services in 14 U.S. cities with around 4,000 driverless vehicles and is testing in additional markets.
Morgan Stanley analysts said a meaningful expansion of Tesla’s unsupervised fleet could help the stock regain momentum. Tesla shares were down around 21% for the year as of Wednesday’s close. The analysts have a $400 price target and a hold-equivalent rating.
Texas records showed Tesla had 45 Cybercabs authorised for driverless operations in the state as of Wednesday, out of 420 registered vehicles for driverless operations.
Tesla also faces at least 2 ongoing NHTSA investigations into potential safety defects involving its partially automated driving systems, alongside criticism over the amount of safety information it has sought to redact from crash reports.
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