Tesla Runs Steering-Wheel-Less Cybercabs Around Giga Texas For Employee Rides
Tesla says a gold, pedal-less Cybercab began picking up and dropping off employees inside Giga Texas this week, marking the first in-house driverless rides of the two-seat robotaxi.
Key Takeaways
Tesla began giving employees driverless rides at Giga Texas in a gold, production-spec Cybercab with no steering wheel or pedals, shown in a video published July 11.
The rides are engineering-only tests confined to Tesla's private Austin campus, separate from the supervised robotaxi pilots operating on public streets in Austin and Miami.
Steering-wheel-less Cybercabs have previously been spotted in downtown Austin traffic with a safety monitor, part of a validation program reportedly spanning about 34 vehicles.
Elon Musk targets commercial Cybercab production in 2026 with volume ramping through 2027, as rivals Waymo, XPENG and Zoox accelerate their own driverless fleets.
Tesla AI lead Ashok Elluswamy called the ride 'the moment we've been waiting for,' and engineering lead Eric Tesla said he took about 50 rides in a few days.
Kaan Tınmaz
Tesla says it has begun ferrying employees around its Austin gigafactory in production-spec Cybercabs that lack a steering wheel or pedals, an incremental but symbolic step for the two-seat robotaxi Elon Musk unveiled in October 2024.
Gold Cybercabs Loop A Giga Texas Parking Lot
In a video published July 11, Tesla showed a gold Cybercab pulling up to a Giga Texas curb, opening its butterfly door, letting an employee step in and then dropping them off a short distance later, all without a driver, steering wheel or pedals in sight. Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla's AI team, called the ride "the moment we've been waiting for." Cybercab and Robotaxi engineering lead Eric Tesla said he had taken about 50 rides over the previous few days and still "never wanted to get out of it at the end."
Engineering Test, Not A Public Service Yet
The rides are engineering-only and confined to Tesla's private campus rather than the public streets where the company's separate supervised robotaxi pilot has been operating in Austin and, since last week, Miami. Tesla previously spotted steering-wheel-less Cybercabs threading through downtown Austin traffic with a safety monitor in the passenger seat, part of a validation program that reportedly spans about 34 vehicles. Musk has said commercial Cybercab production is targeted for 2026, with volume ramping through 2027.
Racing Waymo And Zoox To A Driverless Fleet
The rollout comes as rival driverless services accelerate: Waymo announced simultaneous expansions into Las Vegas, San Diego, Denver and Tampa, XPENG opened a closed robotaxi beta in Guangzhou, and U.S. regulators told operators to stop interfering with first responders. Whether Tesla's parking-lot loop marks a genuine leap toward that field, or a carefully staged campus demo, is likely to dominate FSD discourse into the July 23 earnings call.
Reporting based on coverage from Electrek, Tesla Oracle, Not a Tesla App and TechCrunch.
No. The rides are engineering-only tests limited to employees inside Tesla's private Giga Texas campus in Austin, not a public service.
Does the Cybercab have a steering wheel or pedals?
No. The two-seat Cybercab has neither a steering wheel nor pedals, and the employee rides at Giga Texas ran fully driverless.
When will the Cybercab go into production?
Elon Musk has said commercial Cybercab production is targeted for 2026, with volume ramping through 2027.
How does this compare to Tesla's existing robotaxi service?
Tesla's separate supervised robotaxi pilot operates on public streets in Austin and, since last week, Miami, while the Cybercab campus rides are internal engineering tests; a validation program of roughly 34 vehicles has also been seen in downtown Austin with safety monitors.
