Tesla said Wednesday it will start selling its Cybercab to customers by the end of the year, even as federal regulators investigate whether the vehicle meets vehicle safety standards. The gold-hued, autonomous two-seater lacks a steering wheel and other traditional controls.
During the company’s third-quarter earnings call, Lars Moravy, vice president of engineering at Tesla, said the Cybercabs produced today are all destined for the company’s own robotaxi fleet. As that fleet grows, the company will “mainly deliver fully designed autonomous vehicles to our customers,” he said, noting that it will start small. The company will scale as it learns about delivery, ownership, and fleet management of autonomous vehicles, Moravy added.
Tesla first floated the idea of selling the autonomous vehicle to third parties last month around its Cybercab event in Austin and even posted a form for people interested in buying robotaxis. But it wasn’t clear if Tesla would follow through, or how.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has talked for years about building a massive fleet of low-cost robotaxis, but until recently, those plans centered on turning privately owned Tesla vehicles into self-driving taxis with a software update.
That plan has yet to materialize, and Musk’s comments on the call show how his views have shifted.
Today, Tesla owners can subscribe to Full Self-Driving (Supervised), an advanced driver-assistance system that automates many driving tasks but still requires the driver to take control. The company continues to push out software updates to the system to improve its capabilities, but a human driver is still required to remain engaged and ready to take over — even though many videos show drivers testing the limits of that rule.
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