Tesla has launched the production version of the Cybercab for Robotaxi operations in Austin. This golden two-seater, with gullwing doors, is a dedicated autonomous taxi that has no steering wheel or pedals, and passengers cannot take control of the vehicle inside.

The company has registered 45 Cybercabs with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, adding to the existing Robotaxi fleet, which now totals approximately 420 vehicles. The Cybercab began production in April at the Texas Gigafactory, following street tests and employee rides, and is now dispatched through the same ride-hailing app alongside the modified Model Y.

The existing service in Austin will start in June 2025, initially using Model Y vehicles with safety drivers, beginning with about 10 vehicles, covering a geofenced area of approximately 20 square miles, with a fixed fare of $4.20 per trip. From January 2026, vehicles without safety drivers will be mixed in, and by June, unsupervised operations will cover the entire Austin metropolitan area of about 245 square miles, including the airport, before expanding to Dallas, Houston, and multiple cities in Florida.

In Texas, there are also approximately 988 Waymo vehicles, about 344 Avride vehicles, and around 44 Zoox vehicles. Independent tracking shows that Tesla has over 200 unsupervised operational vehicles across markets, with the active number significantly lower than the registered total. Rides are now being charged, with later pricing adjusted to start at about $3 plus $1.40 per mile.

Elon Musk described the launch as a "storm-like" rollout, and the company's AI head called it a turning point in transportation. Tesla's stock rose over 5% on the day, while Uber and Lyft saw intraday drops of over 3%. California has yet to grant permits for vehicles without safety drivers, and national expansion is constrained by regulations and production capacity.

In market mechanics, what is being bought is Tesla's own fleet capacity and camera plus end-to-end neural network routes, while what is being sold is the hourly wage of human drivers and traditional ride-hailing commissions. Event-driven funds are flowing into autonomous driving valuations, while the pressure is on operational cost structures of driver platforms and lidar routes. Beneficiaries include Tesla, which has established factories, a closed data loop, and relaxed road rules in Texas, while those under pressure include larger-scale but heavier sensor-dependent Waymo and regulatory bodies that have yet to prove that camera solutions can be replicated nationwide.

Supplementary data: Texas Robotaxi registrations are primarily around 270 Model Ys, with the Cybercab adding 45 in one go; Waymo's vehicle count in Texas is still several times that of Tesla.

Source: Public Information