https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/tesla-cybercab-production/

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On February 18, 2026, Tesla announced in an X post that the first Cybercab was built at its Austin facility, with CEO Elon Musk congratulating the team shortly afterward.

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Tesla expects Cybercab production to begin in April, and Musk said that consumers will be able to purchase the vehicle, which is expected to cost about $25,000.

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Red Barchetta (or "A Nice Morning Drive") is getting closer to a reality. We'll have autonomous cars and driving by humans will be outlawed.

I bleed maroon said:

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When a CyberCab is ready to take me to the airport and then return home and park in my garage, then pick me up at the airport when I return, I might get interested.

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Small steps.. maybe we just start with a ride from home and back to the neighborhood brewery!

62strat said:

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I bleed maroon said:

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When a CyberCab is ready to take me to the airport and then return home and park in my garage, then pick me up at the airport when I return, I might get interested.

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Small steps.. maybe we just start with a ride from home to the neighborhood brewery!

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That's another great use case! I could see parents springing for one for their college-aged kids.

Incidentally, I was absentmindedly penciling out a proof of concept, although I admittedly don't know Elon's plans for how to compensate CyberCab owners for their rides. I would be interested if it was something like this:

• All insurance and damage covered by Tesla, with damages reimbursed 120% (to compensate for the hassle of repair and loss of use)
• IRS reimbursement rate ($72.5 cents per mile) round trip from the current location when summoned, including return to prior location at end of shift; Alternatively, something time-based or an electric power-used rate.
• Owner-Selectable schedule and types of fares (include/exclude airport transfers, no late nights, avoid certain parts of town, or 10 mile minimum fare, for example)
• Reduced price Tesla charger credits accumulated for time in use (or frequent renter benefits, such as heavy discounts on CyberCabs in other cities you visit?)

If it were rented just 100 miles a week, that's around $300/month, less recharging costs around $50. $250/month towards the purchase price is not great, but not terrible. If it's heavily utilized at 500 miles a week, the $1250 a month theoretically pays for the car in less than 2 years. The personal use is then just gravy. I could probably get behind that, BUT, as I said, most of this is still a pipe dream (due to regulatory approvals and functionality needed), so I'll probably wait 5 years.

Sorry to bore y'all - I can't help but do some of these types of ungrounded faux "analysis".

It'd be worth having just to get my boys to all their after school practices, games, friends' houses etc.

How long does the battery last and whats the cost of replacing it

For 25k i would buy one for a disabled family member of mine and wouldn't even bother trying to recoup the cost in a ride share pool.

CheeseSndwch said:

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For $25K I'd consider it (after crunching some numbers) if we could let it drive for Uber/Lyft autonomously.

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that's an interesting idea - buying a share or full ownership in a cyber cab that provides 24/7 autonomous rides.

TommyGun said:

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permabull said:

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For 25k i would buy one for a disabled family member of mine and wouldn't even bother trying to recoup the cost in a ride share pool.

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My oldest son is 7 and legally blind. He'll likely lose all of his functional vision in his teenage years due to the degenerative effect of his condition. I would absolutely buy one of these for him later in life as he gains more independence. I'm sure all of the bugs will be worked out in the next 10 years.

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That's the thing, though - - I don't think ALL the bugs will ever be fully worked out, just like current driver-helmed cars still have flaws, weak spots, and bugs. Which brings up another interesting point - - liability.

While it has been said that driverless vehicles have 91% fewer serious accidents than human drivers, it doesn't really help if it's your child that's injured. In our litigation-prone society, I wonder how this will shake out.

I would consider some legislation that provides driverless car companies some limits on liability up to a certain multiple of actual provable damages (maybe 2-3x?), and disallowing massive punitive damages or class action suits, except in cases of severe and active wrong-doing. Not sure if our system is willing to accept something like this.

Who's insurance pays out in the event it causes an accident while in the uber pool? Ubers, Teslas, or the owners?

My high school granddaughter would hate me if I bought one of these for her.

MRB10 said:

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Who's insurance pays out in the event it causes an accident while in the uber pool? Ubers, Teslas, or the owners?

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My first guess will be that Tesla will absolutely have enough cameras on the unit that will conclusively show fault.

Unless.... the tesla's system is hacked into and taken over by someone/something else?
Which is going to eventually happen, IMO

It already did on that Netflix movie that Obama executive produced.

I would buy one, with fully autonomous never being approved.

Edit: spelling

I bleed maroon said:

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When a CyberCab is ready to take me to the airport and then return home and park in my garage, then pick me up at the airport when I return, I might get interested. Avoiding parking and valet stands at in-town restaurants or sports/concert venues would also be a plus. Then, I'd put it in the rental pool when I'm not using it.

I don't think we're that close to this, but someone can tell me if I' wrong.

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I took a 30 minute ride in a Waymo and don't know why it couldn't do it now, other than it being outside the electronic fenced area it's allowed in. Waymo or Tesla or anyone that can sell a car under $40K capable of doing what you described, and things like taking you to work and dropping you off at back door then parking then reversing that at end of day, or shuttling your kids to practices on days you can't, on and on scenarios - it will sell.

GrapevineAg said:

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Red Barchetta (or "A Nice Morning Drive") is getting closer to a reality. We'll have autonomous cars and driving by humans will be outlawed.

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As long as we can still drive on our private property, I would be in favor of this. Driving is, by far, the most dangerous activity most of us engage in daily.

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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. I like the idea, but I will keep my ho's in the garage.

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Your ho's what?

I bleed maroon said:

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When a CyberCab is ready to take me to the airport and then return home and park in my garage, then pick me up at the airport when I return, I might get interested. Avoiding parking and valet stands at in-town restaurants or sports/concert venues would also be a plus. Then, I'd put it in the rental pool when I'm not using it.

I don't think we're that close to this, but someone can tell me if I' wrong.

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Rental pool is the future of cars when things get fully automated. We won't own cars anymore... Traffic engineer and I've been to nationwide conferences where this is being discussed. It's the "ultimate" scenario that City and State agencies want to lower congestion.

Edit that we are probably 30-50 years from this scenario, but that is the endgame

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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If you are going to pimp your car out when you aren't using it, why even buy the car at all? Why not just schedule your rides in advance with someone else? Despite all the numbers run on this thread, one car working part time is not going to make you much money, so this isn't really a money making thing. You could make more putting the 24k into something else and paying for a ride as you need it. I just don't see a typical user that makes much sense. Maybe a college kid trying to get by? Good luck marketing a product to such a small group that ages out quickly. I like the idea, but I will keep my ho's in the garage.

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A quick scan of the comments on this thread show nobody really disagrees with you. Has anyone here mentioned buying one to really make money? Seems most of the discussion mentions the possibility of potentially offsetting some of the cost.

I can hop in my truck 10X a day, easily. Not sure the delta between paying for a ride that often vs just buying a $25k car would be that huge.

And also for the same reason I don't like buying a used cars. I hate the thought of buying a car someone has farted in for ~two years. But that's just me.

But like I said, the thought of sending the car autonomously to run my kids all over the place is pretty appealing.

This thing isn't street legal so it's just a POC at this point. My guess it will be quite a while before you see one of these on the road.

NHTSA has a 2500 vehicle allowance for non-conforming vehicles for testing. Zero doubt they will be on the road before the end of the year. Purchasable by consumers for personal use? No. Not this year. Not sure they will ever end up doing that. Perhaps fleet managers, but I'm dubious about their intention to sell this vehicle to consumers.

Estimates for replicating current consumer use of vehicles in the United States is something like 20-30 million vehicles. Tesla's CyberCab production is supposed to be in the ~2 million annual range. That would replicate the entirety of Uber's capacity in a single year's worth of production.

If it's such a good investment, why is Tesla selling the vehicles unlike say Waymo

Gordo14 said:

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If it's such a good investment, why is Tesla selling the vehicles unlike say Waymo

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Waymo's end goal is to become a supplier of technology and not manufacture nor sell the cars. Why doesn't Waymo sell cars? They don't make them. Why don't they sell the technology? Because it's too expensive to integrate and operate in a consumer vehicle. Waymo's Gen 6 vehicle costs $75,000+. That's built on a platform (Zeekr Mix) that retails for $40,000. Adding $35,000+ to a consumer vehicle is a non-starter. Their ride hail business as it exists relies on a vehicle supplier, Waymo's self driving technology, a retrofit of the supplied vehicle, and a service platform (Uber). They operate at a price to consumer in excess of a human driven Uber vehicle (>$1.80 per mile) and are reportedly currently not profitable at that level. Splitting that revenue share to an additional consumer leaves no profitability for any of the entities.


Compare that to the CyberCab which has an estimated cost of production of <$20,000 per vehicle, Tesla developed the software, manufactures their own cars and is building their own ride hailing app. Selling the vehicle to a consumer to do revenue share is equivalent to issuing stock to the public to raise cash for the build out, without the stockholder dilution nor the ongoing relationship. They can both fund their buildout, do it profitably, with enough revenue share left over for ongoing profits from the service.

Sell a vehicle to 4 people, get the 5th one for free from the profit of the sales. Share profits on the 4 vehicles and earn an additional 2 vehicles in profit per vehicle per year for 5 years of useful life. Sell vehicles to consumers and grow 50-50 consumer and self funded deployments eventually taper consumer sales and shift to self funded sales until you own/operate the entire fleet. By the end of the decade they own everything and retain all of the profits. Done without debt, done without equity raises, done profitably the whole time.

Gordo14 said:

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If it's such a good investment, why is Tesla selling the vehicles unlike say Waymo

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the lidar kit alone on a Waymo costs an additional $15k. They gotta get costs way down...or lose everything to Tesla's far simpler cameras-AI setup.

Edit: I suffer from a genetic condition that causes neuropathy in my lower legs. I still drive today, but that won't last as I age and things progress. My next car might have to be one of these babies.

Every old person who has had their keys taken away by concerned family members should buy one.