From Futurism · Victor Tangermann · · 1m 30s
Tesla's Cybercab Has a Steering Wheel Again
The New York test cars come with a driver, a wheel, and no autonomous-vehicle permit.
In brief
The New York test cars come with a driver, a wheel, and no autonomous-vehicle permit. Tesla's New York Cybercabs are a data-collection run with human drivers, not a robotaxi launch, and rivals are already charging for driverless rides. Originally reported by Futurism.
A fleet of 45
Tesla's Robotaxi network runs just 45 cramped Cybercabs in Austin, Texas. That is the whole operation, against an analyst's call that it would add a trillion dollars of value.
“$1 trillion of value”
New York cabs have wheels
The golden Cybercabs spotted on New York streets carry the one thing the 2024 reveal promised to kill: a steering wheel, plus a human sitting behind it.
Supervised, not autonomous
Officials confirmed the drivers are testing a supervised self-driving system, meaning a person must be ready to grab control at any moment.
No permit, no launch
Tesla has not even started the autonomous vehicle testing permit application with New York's DMV. The wheel is there because the paperwork is not.
They are here for data
Tesla will not say how many Cybercabs are in the city or how long the testing runs. The goal is collecting driving data, not opening a service.
Rivals are already paid
Waymo says it topped half a million paid rides a week in the first quarter. Amazon's Zoox got the green light in late July to charge for rides in cars with no steering wheel at all.
The key point
Tesla's New York Cybercabs are a data-collection run with human drivers, not a robotaxi launch, and rivals are already charging for driverless rides.
