In the month since Tesla's Cybercab rollout in Austin, the company has almost quadrupled the number of its driverless, bronze two-seaters authorized for commercial service in Texas. For Elon Musk to achieve his ambitions, growth has to pick up.
The unusual driverless vehicles, with no steering wheel, pedals, rear or sideview mirrors or outside door handles, have received mixed reviews from paying passengers, who shared videos and posts online after the launch on Sept. 3. Criticisms have included lengthy wait times, pickups and drop-offs in the wrong place, and technical difficulties with the vehicles' butterfly doors or trunk closing improperly.
Improving its driverless technology and rapidly growing the Robotaxi service are key to Tesla's effort to reignite investor enthusiasm. Auto sales have been sluggish for an extended period, and the shares have been a loser on Wall Street this year, down 18%, the only megacap tech stock that's failed to generate positive returns for investors.
On Friday, Tesla reported better-than-expected vehicle deliveries for the third quarter, lifting the stock almost 5%, but the company still showed a 2% year-over-year drop in deliveries. Tesla's core automotive business has experienced consecutive annual revenue declines, as it faces pressure from Chinese EV makers like BYD and Xiaomi, which are selling more affordable, innovative models while they ramp up exports to key Tesla markets, especially across Europe and Asia.
Meanwhile, Alphabet's Waymo continues to open in new cities. It's now in 15 U.S. markets, with 15 more on the horizon, according to the company's website. It's also announced planned international launches in London, Tokyo and Munich.
In Texas, Waymo had 1,154 autonomous vehicles authorized for commercial use as of Friday, including 359 of its new Ojai models, which feature a low step and doors that slide open and shut. Waymo is conducting more than 500,000 paid rides every week and has completed 270 million fully autonomous miles of commercial driving domestically. It currently has over 4,000 driverless vehicles in commercial operations in the U.S.
Tesla had 45 Cybercabs authorized for commercial use in Texas at the time of its Austin unveiling, a number that rose to 169 as of Friday, according to Texas Department of Motor Vehicles' public records.
Tesla's hometown of Austin is the only city where it currently has the Cybercab running as part of its driverless ride-hail service. The company's Robotaxi fleet in Texas also includes 420 Model Y vehicles equipped with Tesla automated driving systems, which are not yet available to individual car buyers.
Austin has emerged as a popular early market for robotaxis due to a combination of relatively lax state regulations and the capital city's vibrant tech community. Amazon's Zoox is also testing in Austin.
Hurdles to expansion
Growing beyond Austin is the next challenge for Tesla's Cybercab.
In addition to technical issues, the company faces some potential regulatory hurdles to expansion. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) initiated a so-called audit query after the Cybercab launch to make sure the vehicles comply with federal safety standards.
NHTSA originally ordered Tesla to respond by Sept. 30 to a long list of safety questions, but the company obtained an extension, an agency spokesperson told CNBC via email.
Ethan McKanna, an Austin resident and former Tesla intern, told CNBC that he's taken rides in every type of autonomous vehicle available to public riders in the city.
The 20-year-old McKanna, now a sophomore studying computer science at Texas A&M University, has also created a site called RobotaxiTracker.com, which uses machine learning to analyze data streaming in from traffic cameras and other public records, to show how autonomous services are working in U.S. cities.
McKanna said he's caught about 30 Cybercab rides and has been taking Waymo rides since they debuted in Austin in 2024. With the Cybercab, McKanna said he likes having his "own space with access to a massive screen, media controls and apps," and he found the drive quality "very smooth."
The "pick up, drop-off experience," he said, was not yet refined and the butterfly doors that extend out are "less convenient" than more traditional doors, or doors that slide open. It also takes patience, he said.
"There was so much demand that wait times were often like 45 minutes plus," he said, referring to the period when the Cybercab first rolled out. That's come down with more "equalized demand," in recent weeks, he said.
"Waymo's been doing commercial operations for longer, so they're just more mature with 24/7 service, better support, things like that," McKanna said, adding that in Waymo's early days in Austin, there were some "harsh braking" issues.
No significant safety incidents or collisions have been reported in Austin involving a Cybercab since the commercial debut. But first responders have expressed concerns about dealing with the Cybercab's lack of manual driving controls and its unique doors.
Austin Fire Captain Matt McElearney told CNBC in an interview that while Tesla provided detailed emergency guidelines and gave first responders comprehensive instruction on how to deal with Cybercab and Model Y Robotaxi vehicles in a variety of events, that's not going far enough.
McElearney said he'd like to see national or state-level regulation of autonomous vehicles requiring robotaxis with no steering wheel or pedals to provide some other way for "public safety representatives to take control — move, steer, or shut down an AV — in both emergent or non-emergent events."
And since their performance can change with software bugs or updates, AVs should have to "pass testing through the entire lifespan of the product," through a kind of "dynamic certification" process, McElearney added.
Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The public also has a broad array of safety concerns.
According to surveys conducted by Slingshot Strategies in a September 2026 Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report, 50% of U.S. respondents said they would not feel comfortable with the idea of riding in a robotaxi without a steering wheel or pedals. Upon hearing about the NHTSA investigation into Tesla's Cybercab, 70% wanted the company to pause rides, the surveys showed.
Musk needs that sentiment to change if he's to successfully move Tesla into the driverless era. His next step in trying to become a major player in the market will be expansion across Texas in San Antonio, Dallas and other cities, as well as to Nevada and Florida, where AV companies can take advantage of warm weather and favorable state regulations.
In January, Musk said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the company's robotaxis would be "very, very widespread" in the U.S. by the end of 2026. That hasn't happened yet. And in California, where Waymos are a common sight in several cities, Tesla still hasn't obtained permits to run its vehicles on public roads without humans at the wheel.
After Tesla's deliveries report on Friday, analysts at Cantor emphasized the magnitude of the opportunity.
"Management previously said that once production ramps, it expects Cybercab to ultimately be the largest volume vehicle in its lineup," they wrote.
