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Tesla has taken one of the most concrete steps yet in its push towards fully autonomous vehicles. This week, the company officially launched the Cybercab in Austin, Texas, and began offering limited rides in the two-seater vehicle designed from the outset to operate without a driver, steering wheel or pedals.
First unveiled in 2024, the Cybercab is a central part of Tesla’s strategy to build its own robotaxi network. Production began this year and remains limited in scale. At the beginning of September, 45 units were registered in Texas.
The launch, however, is already facing its first major obstacle. The US federal road safety authority has opened an investigation to determine how vehicles without traditional controls comply with existing safety regulations.
The idea of removing the driver from the equation has been part of Elon Musk’s vision for more than a decade. As early as 2013, the executive was publicly discussing cars capable of transferring much of their control to computers. Since then, several predictions have been made about the arrival of fully autonomous driving — many of which failed to materialise within the timelines originally presented.
The Cybercab turns that promise into a product developed specifically for autonomy.
Tesla’s technological strategy also differs from that of some of its main competitors. While companies such as Waymo use a combination of cameras, radar and lidar, Tesla relies primarily on cameras and artificial intelligence to interpret the surrounding environment and operate the vehicle.
This approach could help reduce costs and make future large-scale production easier. At the same time, it places the company’s technology under intense scrutiny when it comes to safety.
And Tesla is not entering an empty market. Waymo already operates thousands of autonomous vehicles in the United States and has a significantly greater presence on the roads.
For years, autonomous driving was presented as a technology of the future. The Cybercab puts a different question on the table: what happens when that future actually begins driving through our cities?
From this point onwards, the challenge is no longer purely technological.
For robotaxis to become part of everyday transport, companies will need to prove that their systems are safe, earn passengers’ trust, convince regulators and find an economically sustainable model for operating large fleets.
And this is precisely where Tesla’s bet becomes particularly interesting from a business perspective.
The Cybercab is not simply a new car. It is part of Tesla’s attempt to move beyond being perceived solely as an electric vehicle manufacturer and become an artificial intelligence, robotics and mobility company as well.
If the strategy succeeds, its impact could extend far beyond the automotive industry. A fleet of vehicles capable of operating continuously without drivers would reshape the economics of urban transport, affecting taxis, ride-hailing platforms, insurers, car manufacturers and even the way we think about car ownership.
But there is an important gap between demonstrating that a technology works and proving that it can operate at scale.
The launch of the Cybercab marks the beginning of precisely that test.
After more than a decade of promises, the question is no longer simply when autonomous cars will arrive.
It is whether we are ready to share the roads with them.
If a car can drive itself safely and at a lower cost, will owning one still make sense for so many people?
