Tesla Cybercab rollout in Austin faces immediate NHTSA probe
Tesla's first steering-wheel-free Cybercabs hit Austin streets, but federal safety regulators opened an investigation just hours later.
According to the state's automated vehicle tracker, Tesla has registered 45 Cybercabs in Texas, a number far smaller than the fleet operated by rival Waymo. The Cybercab event in Austin was unusually quiet, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk did not attend.
Federal vehicle safety regulations require brake pedals and other manual controls, though the U.S. Department of Transportation recently proposed removing those requirements for vehicles designed to drive themselves. Tesla chose to self-certify the Cybercab under the standard procedure used for conventional cars, prompting NHTSA to act. There is precedent for such an investigation, and Tesla may choose to keep operating while the probe continues.
TechCrunch's Sean O'Kane wrote before the event: "The Cybercab is Tesla's fork in the road. This is either the moment the company begins to transform urban transportation as we know it, or the moment that reveals that, despite its many efforts, Tesla really is just an automaker after all." Tesla has published guides showing the robotaxi is not intended for children, and it has expressed interest in selling the vehicles to fleet operators.
Waymo, Tesla's main robotaxi competitor, argued ahead of the event that fully autonomous vehicles are not possible without a mix of sensors and warned that pure end-to-end AI systems are insufficient.