Tesla stated that it will begin selling its Cybercab to customers by the end of this year, despite federal regulators investigating whether this golden, self-driving two-seater vehicle meets vehicle safety standards. The car does not have a steering wheel or other traditional control devices.
During the company's third-quarter financial report conference call, Lars Moravy, Tesla's Vice President of Engineering, stated that all of the Cybercab currently being produced will be used for the company's robotaxi fleet. As the fleet expands, the company will "mainly deliver fully designed autonomous vehicles to customers," he said, noting that the implementation will begin on a small scale at first.
Moravy added that the company will expand its scale as its understanding of the delivery, ownership, and fleet management of autonomous vehicles deepens.
Last month, Tesla first mentioned the idea of selling these autonomous vehicles to third parties before and after the Cybercab event in Austin, and even released a robotaxi intention statement. However, it was not clear at that time whether Tesla would actually proceed with this, or how they would do so.
Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, has been talking for many years about building a large-scale, low-cost robotaxi fleet. However, until recently, these plans mainly focused on converting privately owned Tesla vehicles into autonomous taxis through software updates.
This plan has not yet been realized to this day, however, Musk's statement on Wednesday indicates that his thoughts have changed.
Currently, Tesla owners can subscribe to Full Self - Driving ( Supervised ), which is a set of advanced driving assistance systems capable of automatically performing many driving tasks, but still require the driver to take over at any time. The company continues to push out FSD software updates to enhance its capabilities, yet human drivers must still remain involved and ready to take control at any moment – despite many people having demonstrated through videos that they are challenging the boundaries of this rule.
Musk stated that an unsupervised version of FSD will be launched to customers at some point in the second quarter, which represents another delay for many Tesla owners who purchased or subscribed to the software years ago.
If both of these timelines can be fulfilled, it means that third-party fleet customers will be able to purchase autonomous driving Cybercab first and may operate it as a robotaxi service, while Tesla owners will have to wait longer to obtain the same autonomous driving capabilities in their vehicles.
During the teleconference, Musk said, " Cybercab will mainly be provided in a form similar to transportation services, while our other vehicle models will be more like the cars you would want to own, such as the Model 3, the Model Y, and also the Roadster. Of course." He added, "But you know, the vast majority of the business for Cybercab will essentially be owned by Tesla itself and will be used for transportation services."
However, there is at least one obstacle that could disrupt Tesla's Cybercab fleet plan. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced last month that it had launched an investigation into Cybercab, just a few hours before these vehicles began to operate on public roads in Austin.
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards ( FMVSS ) require vehicles to be equipped with manual control devices, such as brake pedals, as well as other configurations like rearview and sideview mirrors. Automobile manufacturers typically certify their vehicles to meet the FMVSS regulations on their own, and Tesla is no exception.
Current regulations do not apply to vehicles without manual control devices, however, the US Department of Transportation has recently proposed to eliminate these requirements for vehicles designed for autonomous driving. Meanwhile, NHTSA indicates that an investigation into Cybercab will be conducted to "review the processes and technical data upon which Tesla relied in certifying Cybercab, as well as related issues."
The results of this investigation may affect whether Tesla, or any other company, will be able to operate Cybercab legally.
