So, last Thursday, Tesla finally unveiled the Cybercab.
The robotaxi without a steering wheel, pedals, or mirrors. On Thursday, the stock closed up 5.4% amid the excitement. On Friday, it dropped 6%, and today, a few days later, it rose 3.98%.
We let the noise die down. And now that the dust has settled, we can see much more clearly what actually happened... and what didn’t.
THE EVENT THAT WASN’T AN EVENT
You know how Tesla usually handles its presentations. Lights, a stage, a livestream watched around the world, Musk at the microphone.
This time? None of that.
No livestream. No journalists. The invitations went mainly to content creators friendly to the company. And Musk himself didn’t even show up. A few executives spoke for about 15 minutes, showed how the vehicle is built, and that was it.
“The Cybercab is here. It’s really here,” said Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s head of AI. “You can go outside and take a ride.”
And what exactly is this vehicle? A two-seater, gold-colored car with butterfly doors. No steering wheel, no pedals, no mirrors. It navigates using cameras alone. Tesla has said it will cost less than $30,000 and has been producing it since April. It will also integrate Starlink V5 for internet connectivity. Oh, and children under 13 are not allowed to ride in it.
The first rides opened to the public on Friday at 5 p.m., within a limited zone in Austin, Texas.
THE NHTSA STEPS IN
And this is where things get even more interesting.
Within hours of the event, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into approximately 1,000 Cybercabs. It wants to know exactly how Tesla determined that these vehicles comply with federal safety regulations.
“And how can a car be on the road without approval?” you might be wondering.
In very simple terms: in the United States, you don’t necessarily get approval beforehand. In Europe, a new model must be approved before it can go on the road. In the U.S., the company itself certifies that it complies with the rules and puts the vehicle into operation. The investigation comes afterward.
And the problem is that these rules were written decades ago for cars with human drivers. They require a steering wheel. They require a brake pedal. They require mirrors. The NHTSA has proposed changes, but they have not yet been finalized. And it has made one thing clear: until that work is completed, the old rules remain in force.
“The NHTSA fully supports the safe development of autonomous vehicles,” said agency chief Jonathan Morrison. “But as a federal agency, we must ensure that all our laws are followed.”
There is, of course, a legal route. The NHTSA grants exemptions. The problem is that the exemption is capped at 2,500 vehicles per year. Tesla’s chief engineer has said that the Cybercab will not be subject to this limit, without explaining how.
And pay attention to something very important. Amazon’s Zoox, which is also developing robotaxis without driver controls, tried exactly this self-certification route. It failed. The NHTSA opened an investigation, and Zoox withdrew its claim. About a year later, in July, it finally received a formal exemption for up to 5,000 vehicles.
“I don’t think there is a logical interpretation that shows the Cybercab can comply,” says Michael Brooks of the Center for Auto Safety.
Professor Philip Koopman of Carnegie Mellon sees it differently. He says Musk may find a “creative interpretation” of the rules and flood the market with Cybercabs. And by the time regulators resolve the issue, years may have passed. In the meantime, Tesla could continue operating on the roads.
Of course, if the case reaches the courts, the NHTSA does not always win.
WHAT WALL STREET SAID AND WHAT THE NUMBERS TELL US
The analysts’ reaction was... cold.
Barclays described a “disappointing lack of immediate communication” and questioned why there was no livestream. Wells Fargo titled its note “Cybercab Event Disappoints” and pointed to execution problems: users uploading videos of incorrect routes, missed destinations, and long wait times. And Gary Black put it bluntly: “The event was largely a failure.”
On the other hand, RBC says concerns about the small numbers are exaggerated. The slow pace is a deliberate strategy, not a technical obstacle. Tesla’s chief financial officer has made it clear that he wants to avoid early failures before the service expands to Dallas and Houston.
And now for the numbers, which put things into perspective.
Tesla reported 45 Cybercabs in Texas. Its total fleet there, including Model Ys, reaches 420 vehicles. Alphabet’s Waymo has nearly 1,000 in the same state. In other words, Tesla has less than half as many.
And what does that mean? It means we are talking about a company valued at $1.4 trillion, more than the world’s largest automakers combined, whose biggest bet is still in second place.
One final detail shows just how fluid everything is. The vehicles Tesla uses for testing have steering wheels. The ones operating on the road do not.