Tesla deployed dozens of its new Cybercabs, vehicles without steering wheels or brake pedals, onto the streets of Austin, Texas, on Thursday. This rollout represents a bold step by CEO Elon Musk to persuade the public to embrace rides in autonomous vehicles where passengers have no ability to intervene in emergencies.
The gold-colored Cybercabs are part of Tesla's effort to expand its autonomous taxi service to new cities. While Tesla shares saw a more than 5% increase on Thursday, driven by optimism surrounding the new taxi service, the company faces challenges in a market where consumer trust in driverless technology remains a significant hurdle.
"No steering wheel, no pedals," Tesla announced on the social media platform X prior to the launch. Musk further amplified the launch by posting an image of a Cybercab above the Austin skyline, calling it "A Storm of Cybercabs."
An invitation-only launch event was scheduled for later Thursday. The timeline for a broader rollout of the Cybercab service remains unclear, but the company is under pressure to gain ground in the competitive self-driving taxi market. Tesla currently trails Waymo, the industry leader, in both the number of deployed vehicles and completed trips.
To compete, Tesla must prove its camera-only autonomous system can navigate city streets safely and avoid pedestrians. Rivals like Waymo and Amazon's Zoox utilize a combination of cameras, radar, and lidar technology for navigation. Despite technological advancements, public perception of autonomous vehicle safety is still evolving.
A February survey by the Pew Research Center indicated that a substantial majority of U.S. adults, approximately seven in 10, expressed low comfort levels with riding in a driverless car. Only 16% reported feeling "somewhat" comfortable, and just 7% felt "extremely" or "very" comfortable.
This sentiment is echoed in broader public opinion trends. Separate Gallup polling from 2025 showed an increase in skepticism regarding the safety of driverless cars compared to previous years, with more Americans favoring human-operated vehicles as the safest option.
Tesla's previous autonomous taxi service in Austin, launched in June of the previous year, featured vehicles equipped with traditional steering wheels and pedals. Initially, these robotaxis operated with safety drivers present to take control if necessary, though the service has since expanded to other Texas and Florida cities without these human supervisors. According to the monitoring site RobotaxiTracker, Tesla has over 200 such "unsupervised" robotaxis operating in these areas, a number significantly lower than Waymo's more than 4,000 vehicles across 14 cities.
The public's willingness to adopt Musk's driverless vision may also be influenced by perceptions of the Tesla CEO himself. A January Pew poll revealed that nearly 60% of adults held a "very" or "mostly" unfavorable view of Musk.
Musk's long-term vision includes enabling Tesla owners to convert their vehicles into ride-sharing taxis through a software update, allowing them to earn income when the car is not in use. This ambitious plan hinges on the successful adoption and perceived safety of fully autonomous technology, including vehicles like the new driverless Cybercab.