Tesla Cybercab: This Is It

Tesla went big on its Cybercab announcement event on Thursday night. It’s been a long-awaited moment, as the EV automaker has been championing autonomous taxis as the ultimate goal of its self-driving technology for years now.

The company’s well-attended livestream finally gave us a real look at the vehicle that’s supposed to herald the future of transportation—in Tesla’s vision, at least. The company revealed a sleek, futuristic-looking vehicle, as you might expect—but with ultimately less daring aesthetics than the polarizing Cybertruck.

That’s not to say that Tesla gave us something conventional. Far from it, in fact. It’s a two-seater, a coupe, and it’s got scissor doors paired with a drastically-sloping roofline. It’s like no other cab you’ve ever hailed before.

Robotaxi & Robovan pic.twitter.com/pI2neyJBSL

— Tesla (@Tesla) October 11, 2024

They call it a Robotaxi in the Tweet? Sure. They called it a Cybercab everywhere else.

Tesla headlines the Cybercab as “faster” and “more affordable.” Why? Well, you won’t be paying a human driver to sit in the seat to haul you around. Beyond that, it notes that the design relies solely on cameras for its self-driving ability. Tesla has long eschewed the use of more expensive radar or LIDAR sensors in its autonomous driving program.

Tesla also states you’ll be able to “call it once” and keep the vehicle “as long as needed,” whether you’re taking short trips or using it all day. Contrast that to a contemporary rideshare or taxi, which is only yours for as long as your trip lasts.

Once again, Tesla has flirted with bold price claims. We’re told the Cybercab will be cost less than $30,000 for purchase, and that sales will be open to private individuals, not just fleet buyers. They’re selling the concept of a cheap robot car that hauls you hither and thither, with the added appeal of the aforementioned scissor doors.

The elephant in the room, of course, is a big one. At this stage, Tesla doesn’t have the technology for self-driving taxis that operate without human supervision. The livestream addressed this, with CEO Elon Musk stating he predicts non-supervised self-driving will be available “before 2027.” This would apply not just to the Cybercab, but to the rest of the Tesla fleet as well—Musk noted that the Model 3, Model Y, Cybertruck, et al, will all get Level 4 or Level 5 self-driving capability. Basically, that’s where the car can drive itself under the vast majority of situations without any human supervision or interaction. You know, what we all think self-driving means.

NEWS: Tesla has filed four patents related to a wireless charging mat for vehicles. This mat is something the car will drive over and it will automatically start charging. While it's not clear what Teslas will use this, presumably Tesla's upcoming Robotaxi will utilize this… https://t.co/jyr5RX0EmI pic.twitter.com/MSdqc9jCoT

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) September 7, 2024

Notably, the livestream mentioned that the Cybercab will have inductive charging capability. This comes as little surprise, as Tesla’s research activity in this area has been public knowledge for some time. As we reported last month, Tesla has filed four patents regarding wireless EV charging technology. Patent drawings and other graphics from the company suggest charging is achieved via a floor-mounted rectangular pad that sits beneath the vehicle. We’ve also seen that provisions appear to have been made on existing Tesla vehicle batteries for this purpose, with connectors for the technology already apparently included on some batteries.

This move makes sense. While it’s possible to build a robotic apparatus to plug in a wired charger to an EV, a wireless charger is altogether simpler to implement. One merely needs to drive the vehicle over the pad to start charging. This would be far simpler and easier for an autonomous vehicle, and require far less maintenance over time.

Autonomous cabs promise a multitude of benefits. Namely, there’s no need for a human driver to spend their time schlepping other humans around. This eliminates labor costs if you’re hiring a cab, for example, and also avoids issues like fatigue. Alternatively, if it’s your Cybercab you’re talking about, full autonomy avoids the issue of parking. You can have your vehicle drop you off at your destination, and then it can drive away and come pick you up later. There’s no need to find convenient parking near your destination. You can also work during your commute, which theoretically could let you spend more time at home with your loved ones, plus in theory you could rent out your car to someone without worrying about them driving like crazed loons.

That’s all very fun, of course, it’s just not real. Not quite yet, anyway. But Tesla still firmly believes that it can make it happen, and the Cybercab is the vehicle apparently optimized to operate in this way.

What’s weird is that Tesla’s prime autonomous cab would only have two seats and an obviously limited cargo capacity. On the one hand, a great many cab trips do carry just one or two people. On the other hand, it’s a pain enough today when you’re travelling with five friends and have to try and score yourself one of the big Ubers. It would be particularly annoying if this happened every time you were travelling as a trio. In any case, Tesla dodged around this to a degree by simultaneously announcing the Robovan, which apparently has 20 seats and far more space.

Ultimately, the Cybercab is kind of a surprise. That’s what Tesla does well, of course. A regular automaker might have showed us another pod concept with comfy chairs and lots of room inside, but that wouldn’t fit the Tesla aesthetic. What they showed us was something radical, shocking, and questionably practical. Given the way the Cybertruck lit up the discourse, both for better and worse, it seems the Cybercab is following a similar formula. Tesla is as Tesla does, that much is certain.

Image credits: Tesla