Tesla Cybercab driverless robotaxi Austin launch event 2026Tesla put driverless Cybercab vehicles on public streets in Austin on Wednesday, ahead of a planned event Thursday where the company is expected to share more details about its robotaxi rollout. Video clips shared on X showed the two-seat vehicles moving through Austin streets with no driver behind the wheel, according to CNBC.CEO Elon Musk posted "A storm of Cybercabs" on X, while Tesla's account told followers to "try it out" in Austin and teased "no steering wheel, no pedals." As of Wednesday night, Tesla had 45 Cybercab vehicles authorized for driverless operations in Texas out of 420 total vehicles registered in the state for driverless operations, according to public records on the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles website.According to one Tesla Robotaxi tracker, roughly 200 vehicles in Tesla's U.S. fleet carry an "unsupervised" designation, meaning they can run without any human aboard within approved geofenced zones, according to CNBC. Those vehicles have logged trips in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa.AdvertisementAdvertisementTesla built the Cybercab from the ground up as a fully autonomous two-seat vehicle featuring butterfly doors and a cabin stripped of both steering wheel and pedals. Alongside that effort, Tesla has run trials of a Cybercab variant equipped with conventional controls and a safety driver across several U.S. cities.Tesla began manufacturing the Cybercab at its Giga Texas facility earlier this year, with Musk cautioning that initial production would follow a slow ramp before accelerating. He said material revenue from the vehicle was unlikely before at least 2027. The ride-hailing network launched in Austin and has since expanded to Dallas and Houston.Tesla also operates a Bay Area ride service staffed by company employees behind the wheel of recent Model Y cars, which run on an internal build of its Full Self-Driving software unavailable to the general public. Riders book those trips through the Tesla Robotaxi app.Tesla stock is down about 21% this year as of Wednesday's close. For context, Waymo already offers paid robotaxi rides in 14 cities nationwide and has approximately 4,000 autonomous vehicles in active service.Federal safety regulators at NHTSA have opened a minimum of two active probes examining whether Tesla's partially automated driving systems contain safety defects.