Tesla Claims It’s Already Built A Cybercab On The Production Line

Tesla’s robotaxi trials may be literally crashing and figuratively burning, but it seems the company is still committed to releasing a car with no steering wheel, pedals, or charging plug to serve as a poor replacement for the public transit projects its CEO hates. In fact, the company is so committed to its Cybercab that it claimed on Twitter yesterday to have already built one on the production line —  it’s right there in the photo, completely obscured by workers. Don’t worry about it. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is still committed to releasing the Cybercab at an “under $30,000” price point within this calendar year according to Teslarati. Sure, that pricing and date are entirely based off a bet he made with a YouTuber, but that bet seems to have lit a fire under Musk and Tesla — the Cybercab, which Musk said would be “agonizingly slow” to begin production just weeks ago, is now apparently here. Ignore the big car-shaped opening in the crowd right up front, and focus on the little peeks of car you get between workers. 

It’s possible that Tesla’s Texas assembly line did in fact construct a single Cybercab as some sort of prototype, development mule, or test case for the production line.  Tesla only calls it the “First Cybercab off the production line” in its tweet, without calling it a production Cybercab — this model may not be the car’s final spec. There have been a handful of Cybercabs spotted driving around on public roads, all prototypes that wouldn’t technically be on the “production” line. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that this photo is just really, really weird. Why leave that big gap up front if not to put a car in it?

If this is in fact a production-spec Cybercab, expect to see more about it soon. Don’t be surprised, though, if it’s a demo built for promotion or as an initial test of the refitted assembly line. Or, who knows, maybe Tesla made exactly one car well before the others just so its boss could win a bet with MKBHD. Stranger things have certainly happened at Tesla.