Tesla opens Cybercab pre-orders to a select few at $29,990

Tesla has opened pre-orders to a hand-picked group of U.S. customers who want a Cybercab of their own — the same wheel-less, pedal-less machine the company built as a robotaxi. The price tag sits at an estimated $29,990, and running it autonomously tacks on a $299 monthly subscription. Deliveries are listed for December, and Tesla hasn't said how many of the cars will actually end up in private driveways.

The catch is where you can let go of the wheel. Autonomous driving will only work in areas where Tesla already runs its robotaxi service, according to Ashok Elluswamy, the manager in charge, who posted the detail on X. That footprint currently covers Austin, Texas, plus parts of other Texas cities and Florida. Tesla also spells out that the cars are for private use only.

The move walks back a little on Elon Musk's own framing. He said weeks ago that most Cybercabs would stay in Tesla's in-house robotaxi fleet rather than go to individuals. Musk has staked Tesla's future on autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots, betting that cameras alone can do the job — a bet Waymo, Google's sister company, hedges by adding lidar sensors that see through bad weather. Experts and rivals have argued cameras by themselves aren't reliable enough. Waymo, for its part, says it wants to bring its own self-driving tech to private cars too.

Regulators are already circling. U.S. law generally requires physical controls such as a brake pedal, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration can hand out an exemption for up to 2,500 vehicles without a steering wheel or pedals. Tesla skipped the application, insisting the Cybercabs meet safety requirements — and NHTSA asked the company to explain how. Tesla had shown off the Cybercab just days earlier at the Auto Zürich trade show.

There's a Cybertruck-sized hole in the plan. Musk recently said production of the angular stainless-steel pickup will be phased out in the middle of next year, partly to free up capacity for the Cybercab. The Cybertruck was first announced with a starting price around $40,000, landed years behind schedule, and its base model ended up costing $82,490. Musk once projected capacity of up to 250,000 a year; by expert estimates, Tesla moved about 20,000 of them last year.