Tesla’s wildest ride yet: Musk puts steering-wheel-free Cybercabs on Austin streets, daring Americans to let go

Elon Musk is asking Tesla customers to make a very literal leap of faith. The company on Thursday began putting dozens of its gold-coloured Cybercabs onto Austin streets, but unlike conventional cars — and even Tesla’s existing robotaxis — these vehicles come without a steering wheel or brake pedals.

That means passengers cannot simply grab the wheel or hit the brakes if something goes wrong. The rollout is a major test of Tesla’s ambition to build a commercial autonomous-driving network, as Musk seeks to convince both customers and regulators that his cars can safely operate without a human ready to intervene.

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Tesla’s shares jumped more than 5% on Thursday, suggesting investors welcomed the arrival of the futuristic taxis.

The company had teased the launch on X with a blunt message: "No steering wheel, no pedals," while Musk posted an image of a Cybercab hovering over the Austin skyline and later wrote, "A Storm of Cybercabs." An invitation-only event was expected to take place later in the day.

A ride without a backup plan

Tesla's timing is significant because public confidence in autonomous vehicles remains weak. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in February found that 70% of US adults were either "not too" or "not at all" comfortable with riding in a driverless car.

Only 16% said they would be somewhat comfortable, while 7% described themselves as extremely or very comfortable.

Tesla therefore has more than a technological hurdle to clear. Its vehicles must prove they can negotiate real-world traffic, pedestrians and unexpected road conditions without the physical safety net that a steering wheel and pedals provide.

The company is also playing catch-up. Waymo operates more than 4,000 unsupervised vehicles across 14 cities, according to RobotaxiTracker, compared with more than 200 Tesla robotaxis operating without safety drivers.

Tesla's Austin robotaxi service itself is not new. It began last June using cars fitted with conventional controls and initially relied on safety drivers who could intervene. The service has since expanded to five additional cities in Texas and Florida.

Tesla's approach also differs from that of rivals such as Waymo and Amazon's Zoox, which combine cameras with radar and lidar, a laser-based system used to detect and map surroundings.

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Musk's credibility test

The Cybercab launch arrives as Tesla tries to regain momentum in its core vehicle business. Sales fell for a second straight year last year, profits dropped sharply and China's BYD displaced Tesla as the world's top-selling electric vehicle maker.

Musk's political profile has added another complication. His involvement in Donald Trump's government cost-cutting initiative, DOGE, and his backing of extreme-right political candidates triggered protests at Tesla facilities and boycotts by some consumers.

Public sentiment towards Musk could matter if he expects people to entrust their safety to a machine bearing his company's name. A Pew survey in January found that almost six in 10 US adults viewed Musk either "very" or "mostly" unfavourably.

The ultimate Tesla plan goes considerably further than today's Austin experiment. Musk wants full self-driving software eventually deployed across hundreds of thousands of Tesla vehicles, allowing owners to send their cars out as taxis when they are not personally using them.

But regulators have yet to give the project a free pass. Tesla's partial self-driving technology remains unapproved for drivers in most European Union countries, while US authorities are examining several safety issues involving the company's vehicles.

Those investigations include crashes in difficult visibility conditions, one involving a pedestrian death, as well as incidents involving alleged red-light violations and vehicles travelling on the wrong side of the road. Regulators are also examining whether Tesla failed to report crashes within required timelines.

(With inputs from AP)