Elon Musk has deployed several self-driving Cybercabs—without traditional steering wheels or brake pedals—on the streets of Austin, Texas. This move reflects his belief that people will eventually feel comfortable using rides with no manual controls.
The introduction of these gold-colored Teslas, which leave passengers with no means of taking control in emergencies, comes as Tesla looks to expand this service to other cities. While vehicle sales have dipped, Tesla’s stock saw an increase of more than 5% on Thursday, fueled by optimism that these innovative taxis may quickly gain popularity.
Tesla teased the feature on X, highlighting the absence of driving controls, and Musk shared a post featuring a Cybercab hovering over Austin, referring to it as “A Storm of Cybercabs.”
There was an exclusive launch event planned for later in the day.
The timeline for rolling out the Cybercab service remains unclear, but Musk seems to recognize the need for urgency.
Currently, Tesla trails behind Waymo when it comes to the number of self-driving cabs in operation and the total trips completed. To catch up, Tesla has to prove that its solely camera-based system can effectively navigate urban environments and safely interact with pedestrians. In comparison, Waymo—and another competitor, Amazon’s Zoox—utilize additional technologies such as radar and lidar alongside cameras.
Even if the technology functions seamlessly, there’s still skepticism among the general public. A recent survey from Pew Research Center revealed that 70% of U.S. adults reported feeling “not too” or “not at all” comfortable in a driverless vehicle.
Tesla’s stock faced difficulties last year following Musk’s association with a government campaign aimed at cost-cutting and his support for extreme-right candidates, which led to protests and boycotts across various nations.
Last year, Tesla marked a second consecutive annual decline in vehicle sales, also experiencing a significant drop in profits. This situation resulted in losing the title of the world’s top electric vehicle seller to China’s BYD.
Although Austin has seen successes with its self-driving Tesla “robotaxi” service since June of last year—these vehicles still have steering wheels and pedals—the company plans to expand its offerings. These early services initially included human safety drivers to address potential issues.
Currently, Tesla operates over 200 “unsupervised” robotaxis in several Texas and Florida cities, as reported by RobotaxiTracker, while Waymo boasts more than 4,000 such vehicles spread across 14 cities.
From the Pew survey, only 16% of adults indicated they would be “somewhat” comfortable with driverless cars, and a mere 7% felt “extremely” or “very” comfortable.
Additional Gallup polling from 2025 indicated an increase in skepticism regarding the safety of driverless vehicles over the years; more individuals now prefer all or mostly human-operated cars than in a comparison poll from 2018.
It’s uncertain if Musk is the right figure to persuade the public to step into vehicles lacking human controls. Another Pew poll conducted in January found that about 60% of adults held a “very” or “mostly” unfavorable view of him.
Musk’s long-term vision includes a plan to send self-driving software updates to hundreds of thousands of Teslas, enabling owners to rent their cars out as taxis when they’re not utilizing them.
