Dozens of autonomous Tesla Cybercabs built without steering wheels or brake pedals were dispatched onto the streets of Austin, Texas, on Thursday to test whether Americans are ready to overcome their reluctance to ride in vehicles without manual controls. The deployment of the gold-hued Teslas, which offer passengers no ability to take over during an emergency, comes as the company plans to launch the service in additional cities. While Tesla shares have slumped alongside dropping vehicle sales, they rose more than 5% Thursday on expectations that the futuristic taxis could rapidly gain traction.
"No steering wheel, no pedals," Tesla posted on X ahead of the rollout. Elon Musk later published an image showing a massive Cybercab floating over the Austin skyline, writing, "A Storm of Cybercabs." An exclusive, invitation-only event was scheduled for later Thursday evening. While the timeline for Musk’s broader Cybercab rollout remains unclear, the chief executive faces pressure to move quickly.
Tesla trails market leader Waymo in both active fleet size and completed passenger trips. To close the distance, Tesla must demonstrate that its vision-only camera setup can safely navigate city traffic and avoid pedestrians. Competitors including Waymo and Amazon’s Zoox combine cameras with radar and laser-based lidar sensors.
Even if the technology operates reliably, winning over the public remains a major challenge. A Pew Research Center poll conducted in February revealed that seven in 10 U.S. adults were "not too" or "not at all" comfortable traveling in a driverless car. Tesla's stock price tumbled last year after Musk headed President Donald Trump’s government cost-cutting effort, named DOGE, and endorsed far-right political candidates, triggering showroom protests and customer boycotts in several countries.
The company registered a second consecutive annual drop in vehicle sales last year. Profits dropped sharply, and Tesla surrendered its position as the top seller of electric vehicles globally to China’s BYD. Austin has hosted a self-driving Tesla service since June of last year, though those vehicles retained steering wheels and pedals and initially carried human safety drivers to intervene if needed.
Tesla now operates over 200 "unsupervised" taxis without safety drivers across five cities in Texas and Florida, according to tracking site RobotaxiTracker. By comparison, Waymo maintains more than 4,000 driverless vehicles across 14 cities. In the Pew study, 16% of U.S. adults said they would be "somewhat" comfortable in an autonomous vehicle, while 7% reported feeling "extremely" or "very" comfortable.
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