Tesla placed driverless Cybercab vehicles on public streets in Austin on Wednesday, September 3, ahead of an invite-only launch event on Thursday where the company is expected to detail its robotaxi rollout3,4. Video clips shared on X showed the two-seat vehicles moving through Austin streets with no driver behind the wheel.
As of Wednesday night, Tesla had 45 Cybercab vehicles authorized for driverless operations in Texas out of 420 total vehicles registered in the state for driverless operations, according to public records on the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles website. CEO Elon Musk posted "A storm of Cybercabs" on X, while Tesla's account told followers to "try it out" in Austin and teased "no steering wheel, no pedals"6.
The Cybercab is a purpose-built two-seat robotaxi featuring butterfly doors and a cabin stripped of both steering wheel and pedals. Tesla first unveiled the vehicle's design in October 2024. Production began at Giga Texas earlier this year, with employee rides starting in July. Tesla posted an "Exclusive Access: Cybercab" graphic dated September 3 in Austin; guests are selected Robotaxi riders and sweepstakes winners, age 21 and up. Tesla engineer Eric Earley told invited guests on social media the gathering was at 4:45 p.m. downtown, while other coverage placed the formal event at Gigafactory Texas. Tesla said it will livestream the event.
The Cybercab joins an existing robotaxi operation that Tesla launched in Austin in June 2025 using Model Y vehicles. Unsupervised rides, with no safety monitor in the car, now cover the Austin metro including the airport. Tesla also offers unsupervised service in parts of Dallas and Houston and in Miami, Tampa, and Orlando. The San Francisco Bay Area still uses a safety driver under California rules. Roughly 200 vehicles in Tesla's U.S. fleet carry an "unsupervised" designation, meaning they can run without any human aboard within approved geofenced zones.
The launch arrives amid an escalating technical rivalry with Waymo. The Alphabet-owned company argued in a blog post last week that fully autonomous vehicles are not possible without using a mix of sensors and that pure end-to-end AI systems are not safe enough, an apparent challenge to Tesla's camera-only approach2,8. Waymo said that after more than 200 million real-world miles, safe fully autonomous operations at scale require more than cameras alone, and that the Waymo Driver combines inputs from cameras, lidar, and radar. Waymo also announced three new markets on Tuesday, extending a robotaxi network that serves customers in more than a dozen U.S. cities with approximately 4,000 vehicles and roughly 500,000 paid trips per week.
The timing drew sharp reactions. Pierre Ferragu, an analyst and managing partner at New Street Research who covers Tesla, wrote on X: "My read: Waymo built a driving gas plant that AI at scale makes irrelevant, and now falls into incumbent rhetoric. Innovator dilemma 101". Waymo spokesperson Ethan Teicher responded by emphasizing the company's accumulated driverless mileage, AI interpretability, and multi-sensor architecture.
Tesla shares were down about 21% year-to-date as of Wednesday's close. Morgan Stanley analysts said the stock could regain momentum if the Cybercab event includes a meaningful rollout of unsupervised vehicles, and that continued growth in the unsupervised fleet is key for Tesla stock to outperform through year-end. Morgan Stanley holds a $400 price target on Tesla and the equivalent of a hold rating. A recent filing indicates Tesla targets production of more than 125,000 Cybercabs annually. Musk has said material revenue from the vehicle is unlikely before at least 2027.
Separately, Tesla in August posted photos of a gold Cybercab with a Starlink antenna integrated into the roof at Gigafactory Texas, following a July announcement that satellite internet was "directly integrated" into the vehicle9. The Cybercab runs on Tesla's onboard AI4 computer and does not require an internet connection to drive.
ANALYSIS The 45 registered Cybercabs in Texas represent a fraction of Waymo's approximately 4,000-vehicle fleet, underscoring the scale gap Tesla faces as it transitions from modified Model Y operations to a purpose-built robotaxi platform.