Need a ride? You’ll be able to hail your own ‘Cybercab’ by 2026, Tesla claims.
While most of the automotive industry jumped onboard with the notion that we need to shift toward electrified cars, and Tesla got the ball rolling on modern mass-market EVs, the endgame has shifted in recent years toward completely autonomous models. Again, virtually every automaker is working on their own methods to achieve that goal, and the Tesla Cybercab (as Musk calls it, though it’s also known as the ‘Robotaxi’) aims to put the company in front on the new self-driving battlefield.
To that end, CEO Elon Musk debuted the Cybercab at Warner Bros.’ Discovery movie studios in California Thursday evening. After years of promises and false starts, we finally have something tangible that will hit the streets in 2026. At least, that’s the current plan.
As part of the reveal extravaganza, CEO Elon Musk went through the high-level details of the car that aims to cement the company’s future ambitions. As you’d expect, the Cybercab/Robotaxi has no steering wheel or pedals, as you’re simply supposed to hail one, then tell it where you want to go. Nor does it even have a charging port — instead, the car will use inductive charging to regain power wirelessly. That tracks with the fully autonomous notion of this car, actually, as that would allow the car to find power when it needs to recharge without involving humans in the loop or some kind of charging apparatus to open the charge port and connect a plug.
On the whole, Musk claims these autonomous taxis are meant to be 10-20 times safer than human-piloted cars. They’ll also cost less to run against buses, at 20 cents for the Cybercab versus $1 per mile for a bus. (That said, you can fit more than 4-5 people on a bus, so the picture may look different from a per-passenger perspective).
When it does go into production, Musk also said the Robotaxi would start under $30,000 for those who want to operate them. The current goal is to start production in a year or so, but definitely “before 2027”, as he made a tongue-in-cheek reference that, “I tend to be a little optimistic with time frames”. In fairness, Tesla’s ability to actually put these vehicles on the road won’t be entirely up to their own internal processes. As no current car comes near complete autonomy that eliminates the need to have physical controls (at least as a backup), the company has some major red tape to cut through with regulators before it will go on sale.
As it happens, Tesla’s Full-Self Driving (Supervised) update has been slowly rolling out to some of its latest vehicles, so you can see that as a step toward the Cybercab eventually becoming a reality. Tesla says it will expand the capability to vehicles in California and Texas as soon as next year, perhaps with the rest of the country to follow.
The Cybercab isn’t the only reveal Tesla made Thursday.
Alongside its autonomous taxi, Tesla also revealed the ‘Robovan’ during this event. Here’s the rub: It’s not really a “van”, as such — more of a transport pod (maybe “capsule” is the best word for it?). It’s more of a bus, if anything, judging by the side next to the Cybercab. Nevertheless, Musk mentioned this model will haul up to 20 people when it goes to production. And yes, he did say it will totally go into production: “We’re going to make this, and it’s going to look like that?”
People scoffed when he first revealed the Cybertruck, and how did that turn out? So, while he made no mention of when it will arrive, how much it will cost or what the range is, you could probably take him at his word on that statement of what it will look like.
Tesla rounded out the “We, Robot” reveal party with examples of its Optimus robot. Not only did they make an appearance at the event, mingling among the crowd, but Musk also said these will be available to purchase for between $28,000 and $30,000. He continued to pitch Optimus as a general-purpose attendant who can perform any variety of household tasks, as well as “just be your friend”. “What can it do? It’ll do anything you want. I think this will be the biggest product ever of any kind.”
Investors don’t seem to be quite so sure. Shares in Tesla have fallen by 8% Friday — about $20 per share — after a show that leaned on Hollywood fanfare than the nuts and bolts, so to speak, of how these products will get to the market and the impacts they’ll have (the actual business side of the matter, in other words).
As we’ve done over the past several years, only time will tell. Tesla did ultimately launch the Cybertruck to immense hype after five years, and the company is working through a challenging environment to perfect its Full Self-Driving software and AI capability, in the face of setbacks where the systems have faced government scrutiny because of high-profile, fatal accidents.
