Tesla has been right about Cybercab design all along

Tesla started its Robotaxi platform service with run-of-the-mill Model Y units, rather than the dedicated Cybercab that it revealed at a glitzy Hollywood-style event last year.

The reasoning is that it needs to first test the routes in a georestricted manner for added safety, while validating the Robotaxi summoning and payment operation, before it deploys the cheap to manufacture but quirky Cybercab design concept.

Tesla envisioned the Cybercab as a barebone two-seater without pedals or a steering wheel, equipped with a smallish 40 kWh battery that will be charged wirelessly instead of splurging on a NACS port. The goal was to use off-the-shelf Model Y parts and leave out everything that can be spared so that the Cybercab is as cheap to manufacture as possible.

This would eventually lead to very low operating costs, which Elon Musk pegs at 25–30 cents per mile when the Cybercab is produced en masse with the respective economies of scale.

While there are already examples of electric vehicles offering wireless charging with Tesla's promised over 90% efficiency rate, there aren't any two-seaters without a steering wheel just yet. Tesla and Waymo are duking it out for robotaxi dominance on the roads of major US cities, but they both do it with five-seat SUVs, rather than optimized dedicated vehicles like the Cybercab.

As mentioned, the reason that the Cybercab was envisioned as a two-seater from the get-go is that Tesla is trying to make it as cheap as possible. Upon its unveiling, Elon Musk mentioned that it will cost below $30,000, but industry analysts peg a $15,000 production cost achievable when the Cybercab enters mass production.

The two-seater concept has now been vindicated by the latest statistics about Waymo's occupancy rates. It turns out that 90% of the driverless trips taken in a robotaxi are done with one or two people. The vast majority of those ride with just one person, too, while only 9% include at least one person on the front seats.

It would've therefore been a waste of money and components to make the Cybercab anything but a compact and efficient two-seater, just the way it is currently designed. The Cybercab has already been caught validating on public roads, and Tesla intends to add it to the Robotaxi fleet in 2026.

Get the Tesla Universal Wall Connector with 24' cable on Amazon