Tesla’s long-teased robotaxi project has moved from renderings to real-world hardware, with a Cybercab prototype now running public-road tests near Giga Texas equipped with a conventional steering wheel and side mirrors. The sight of a supposedly driverless future car carrying old-school controls signals that Tesla is working through the practical and regulatory steps required to turn its autonomous ambitions into a product that can actually be built, certified, and sold.
Instead of a clean break from today’s vehicles, the Cybercab emerging around Austin looks like a bridge between human-driven and fully automated mobility, shaped as much by crash-test labs and highway rules as by software. I see these latest sightings as an early look at how Tesla may phase in autonomy, starting with a drivable, street-legal variant that can evolve as regulations and its Full Self-Driving stack catch up.
From secretive concept to road-going prototype at Giga Texas
The clearest sign that Cybercab is no longer just a slide in a presentation deck is the prototype running on public roads around Tesla’s Austin factory. Video and photos show a compact, slab-sided vehicle in Cybertruck-style silver, but scaled for urban duty, circulating near Giga Texas with a human behind the wheel and visible exterior hardware that marks it as a test car rather than a finished consumer product. In multiple clips, the vehicle navigates regular traffic, merges, and turns like any other car, which underscores that Tesla is validating basic road manners in parallel with its autonomy work.
One widely shared clip captured the Cybercab driving on open roads near the plant, its profile unmistakable as it passes other vehicles and roadside infrastructure, confirming that testing has moved beyond closed lots into mixed traffic around Giga Texas. Another angle, filmed from a distance but clearly focused on the same prototype, shows the car looping around the factory perimeter, reinforcing that this is not a one-off appearance but part of a broader on-road program captured in a separate drive-by video. Taken together, these sightings establish that Cybercab has entered a sustained phase of real-world testing anchored in Tesla’s Texas hub.
Why a robotaxi is running with a steering wheel and mirrors
For a vehicle pitched as a dedicated robotaxi, the most striking detail in the Austin footage is how conventional the cockpit and exterior look. Inside, the Cybercab carries a steering wheel and driver’s seat, and outside it wears physical side mirrors, all of which run counter to the idea of a fully driverless pod. I read this not as Tesla backing away from autonomy, but as a pragmatic step to get hardware into testing and through regulators while the company works to prove out its software stack and safety case.
Close-up shots from the roadside show the mirrors protruding from the bodywork and a driver actively controlling the car, confirming that this prototype is configured for manual operation even as it likely carries experimental sensors and compute for data collection around side-mirror testing. A separate set of images and commentary from the same area highlights that the Cybercab’s steering wheel is not hidden or retractable, but a standard control interface, which aligns with a Facebook post documenting the car “seen on open roads” with both a wheel and mirrors near Austin-area roads. In practice, this configuration lets Tesla log miles, run calibration routines, and satisfy current safety rules that still assume a human driver, even if the long-term goal is to remove those controls.
Crash tests and safety validation at Giga Texas and Fremont
Behind the public-road sightings, Tesla is also pushing Cybercab through the unglamorous but essential world of crash testing. Reports from inside the company’s facilities indicate that dedicated crash programs for the robotaxi have started, with test bodies and prototypes subjected to front, side, and rear impacts to validate structural integrity and restraint systems. I see this as a critical inflection point: once a vehicle enters formal crash testing, its basic architecture is usually locked in, which suggests Cybercab’s core body structure is far along.
Coverage of Tesla’s internal testing cadence notes that crash work has kicked off at Giga Texas, with Cybercab shells and early builds entering the same kind of destructive validation that Model Y and Cybertruck endured before launch, a process described as the robotaxi “nearing reality” as the factory kicks off crash tests. Additional reporting points to parallel activity at the company’s original Fremont plant, where Cybercab-related test vehicles have been spotted on transporters and in staging areas, suggesting that both U.S. factories are involved in the validation program as testing ramps up. That dual-site approach would fit Tesla’s pattern of using Fremont as a mature engineering base while Texas scales up for higher-volume production.
What the latest test footage reveals about Cybercab’s design
Beyond the presence of a steering wheel and mirrors, the latest videos give a clearer sense of Cybercab’s proportions and design priorities. The vehicle appears shorter and more upright than a Model 3, with a tall roofline that hints at generous headroom and easy ingress, which are key for a car expected to shuttle passengers all day. The side profile looks almost monovolume, with minimal hood and a long cabin, a layout that maximizes interior space on a compact footprint suited to dense city streets.
One clip, shot from a moving car that briefly paces the prototype, shows the Cybercab’s rear with a broad, flat tail and high-mounted lighting, reinforcing the impression of a purpose-built urban shuttle captured in a Texas road video. Another video, filmed from a different vantage point, highlights the smooth body panels and relatively small wheel openings, which suggest Tesla is prioritizing aero efficiency and ride comfort over off-road capability, a contrast to the angular, high-clearance Cybertruck seen in a separate walkaround clip. Taken together, these details point to a design optimized for low drag, easy cleaning, and high passenger throughput rather than personal-vehicle flair.
Testing cadence hints at Tesla’s robotaxi rollout strategy
The pattern of sightings around Giga Texas and Fremont suggests a deliberate escalation in Cybercab testing rather than sporadic one-off runs. I see a three-step rhythm emerging: first, controlled loops around factory grounds; second, short excursions on nearby public roads with a safety driver; and third, more varied routes that expose the car to different traffic conditions and speeds. That progression mirrors how Tesla has historically matured new models before launch, using local roads as a living lab while keeping the fleet small and tightly monitored.
Recent footage shared on social platforms shows the Cybercab repeatedly entering and exiting the same access roads near the Austin plant, a behavior consistent with structured test scripts that collect comparable data runs, as highlighted in a short clip of repeated passes by the prototype. Complementary reporting describes how similar vehicles have been seen at Fremont, sometimes in groups, which indicates that Tesla is likely running parallel test campaigns in different environments as testing ramps up again. That dual-track approach would let engineers compare performance across climates, road surfaces, and traffic patterns while keeping the development fleet relatively small.
Regulatory realities behind the “temporary” hardware
For all the futuristic talk around robotaxis, the Cybercab’s current hardware layout reflects the realities of today’s safety and vehicle regulations. In most markets, a car without a steering wheel, pedals, or mirrors faces a much steeper approval path, often requiring special exemptions or limited pilot programs. By equipping the prototype with conventional controls, Tesla can treat it as a test vehicle within existing frameworks, which simplifies insurance, driver licensing, and crash certification while the company builds its case for higher levels of automation.
Enthusiast discussions around the Austin sightings have zeroed in on this point, with several observers noting that the presence of mirrors and a driver likely signals a phased approach in which Tesla first launches a drivable version that can later transition to more automated operation, a view echoed in community breakdowns of the on-road test runs. Forum posts focused on Cybercab’s regulatory path argue that the side mirrors in particular may be a “temporary” concession to current rules, with the long-term goal of relying on cameras and displays, a tension captured in detailed threads about mirror-equipped prototypes. Until regulators explicitly bless mirrorless, driverless operation at scale, I expect Tesla to keep building test cars that can be driven like any other vehicle, even if their software is aimed at a very different future.
How Cybercab fits into Tesla’s broader autonomy push
Cybercab does not exist in isolation; it is the hardware expression of Tesla’s long-running bet that its Full Self-Driving software can eventually power a commercial ride-hailing network. By moving a dedicated robotaxi body into real-world testing, Tesla is signaling that it wants a vehicle optimized around that use case rather than relying solely on retrofitted Model 3 or Model Y cars. The upright cabin, likely durable interior, and compact footprint all point to a product designed for high utilization and low operating cost, which are essential for any profitable robotaxi service.
Community videos and posts around the Austin tests repeatedly frame the Cybercab as the physical platform for Tesla’s autonomy ambitions, with commenters contrasting its shape and apparent seating layout with existing models in clips of the Texas prototype. A separate discussion thread that circulated alongside those videos emphasizes how the car’s presence on ordinary roads, mixing with everyday traffic, makes the robotaxi concept feel more tangible than previous investor-day slides, a sentiment captured in a roadside sighting that sparked debate about timelines and readiness. I see these reactions as an early test of public perception: even before the software is ready, the hardware is already shaping how people imagine a Tesla-run robotaxi network might look and feel.
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