Elon Musk announced during Tesla's shareholder meeting that production of the Cybercab, an autonomous robotaxi without pedals or steering wheel, will begin in April 2026 at the company's Austin factory. The comments followed shareholder approval of Musk's massive compensation package. Musk expressed confidence in deploying the vehicles despite regulatory hurdles.
At Tesla's annual shareholder meeting on November 6, 2025, in Austin, Texas, CEO Elon Musk revealed plans to start production of the Cybercab next April. Described as the first vehicle built specifically for unsupervised full self-driving, the Cybercab lacks pedals, a steering wheel, and side mirrors, optimizing it for the lowest cost-per-mile in autonomous mode. "We’ve got the first car that is specifically built for unsupervised, full self-driving to be a robotaxi called a Cybercab — it doesn’t even have pedals or steering wheel," Musk stated.
The announcement came shortly after shareholders approved a compensation package for Musk potentially worth up to $1 trillion in company shares, the largest in corporate history. Musk highlighted the production efficiency, noting a manufacturing line with a 10-second cycle time—compared to one minute for the Model Y—potentially enabling 2 million to 3 million Cybercabs annually. "So these will be everywhere in the future," he added.
However, Musk's vision conflicts with recent comments from Tesla chairwoman Robyn Denholm, who told Bloomberg the Cybercab would include a steering wheel and pedals as a backup. Musk had previously abandoned plans for such a version in favor of a stripped-down design.
Tesla first unveiled the Cybercab in October 2024 at the "We, Robot" event in California, promising eventual personal sales. The company has since launched a limited robotaxi service in Austin using Model Y vehicles with an "unsupervised" Full Self-Driving software version, though a Tesla employee rides in the passenger seat. Deploying Cybercabs without traditional controls requires federal regulatory approval, a process that has challenged competitors like Zoox and Cruise. Musk remained optimistic, thanking Waymo for "paving the path" and asserting, "I think we’ll be able to deploy all the Cybercabs that we produce." He predicted that as autonomous vehicles become normalized in cities, regulators would have fewer reasons to deny exemptions.
Additionally, Musk noted that the Cybercab will use 4680 battery cells next year, and Tesla's new Texas lithium refinery will have an initial 50 GWh capacity. He also claimed the company is a few months away from solving unsupervised Full Self-Driving.
