This is how easy it is to find your Cybercab.
The Robotaxi app uses this color hue and arrow to guide you to the pickup point, and the color in the app matches the lights inside and outside Cybercab, making it easy to know which one is yours.
This will be very helpful for when there are many Cybercabs in the same area picking up passengers.
Cybercab 'gold vein' in Palo Alto
In Palo Alto this morning and saw 6 Cybercabs around the Page Mill Road area, near Tesla’s California HQ.
Then I hit the mother lode.
A secret parking lot with ~100 Cybercabs.
Everything from engineering prototypes to what looked like production vehicles. California, Florida, and Texas plates.
Needless to say, I stopped counting.
Had the pleasure of taking FSD road trip legend @JoeAnderson on his first Waymo ride here in Austin, TX
We were forced to take another rideshare back after being dropped off in our 2nd Cybercab ride at about 10:05PM (service hours were over with)
He said it was a passing grade but not as good at Cybercab or Model Y unsupervised
Had a Cybercab Robotaxi ride try to drop me off in the middle of the street in downtown Austin, TX this evening about 10PM
Support fixed the issue immediately letting the car circle the block & the next time it tried it, it nailed it
During Tesla Cybercab launch week in Austin, I took a total of 12 paid Cybercab rides and kept every receipt.
TOTAL:
• 12 rides
• 29.7 miles traveled
• $108.34 total spent
• $3.65 average cost per mile
• 2 hours and 19 minutes riding around Austin in a Cybercab
• Compared to Uber and Waymo, every Cybercab ride was still ~30-50% cheaper
EACH OF MY CYBERCAB RIDES:
1/ Sept 3 — 7:23 PM
3.9 miles · 16 min · $8.70
≈ $2.23/mile
2/ Sept 3 — 7:53 PM
0.5 miles · 6 min · $4.65
≈ $9.30/mile
3/ Sept 4 — 6:52 AM
2.5 miles · 12 min · $6.99
≈ $2.80/mile
4/ Sept. 4 — 7:13 AM
2.4 miles · 11 min · $6.84
≈ $2.85/mile
5/ Sept. 4 — 7:39 AM
1.8 miles · 11 min · $6.16
≈ $3.42/mile
6/ Sept. 4 — 8:03 AM
1.4 miles · 8 min · $5.69
≈ $4.06/mile
7/ Sept. 4 — 8:20 AM
3.3 miles · 15 min · $7.90
≈ $2.39/mile
8/ Sept. 4 — 10:58 AM
4.0 miles · 19 min · $8.78
≈ $2.20/mile
9/ Sept. 4 — 11:58 AM
2.6 miles · 8 min · $7.08
≈ $2.72/mile
10/ Sept. 4 — 2:17 PM
2.8 miles · 11 min · $13.71
≈ $4.90/mile
11/ Sept. 5 — 12:57 PM
2.4 miles · 10 min · $16.18
≈ $6.74/mile
12/ Sept. 5 — 1:36 PM
2.1 miles · 12 min · $15.66
≈ $7.46/mile
One of the biggest things I learned from actually using Cybercab is that you cannot judge the economics from just one ride.
Pricing is dynamic.
Some of my longer rides came in cheaper around $2.20–$2.40 per mile.
Some of the shorter or higher-demand rides were much more expensive.
Sometimes, the Cybercab was even more expensive than the Model Y (Unsupervised) bc the demand was so high.
Some of the rides also became more expensive as Cybercabs became bookable on September 4 to the general public.
However, it’s hard for me to look at these receipts and not wonder how Uber and Lyft can compete if Tesla can scale Cybercab the way it wants to.
Uber and Lyft were built around connecting riders with human drivers.
That means every ride has to support a much bigger cost stack... like
1/ A human has to be paid.
2/ That person needs a car.
3/ That car has to be financed or purchased.
4/ It needs insurance.
5/ Maintenance.
6/ Fuel or charging.
7/ And then Uber or Lyft still needs its cut.
Cybercab attacks the biggest cost in that entire system which is the driver... there is no driver waiting to be paid at the end of the ride.
And Tesla is supplying the software.
Tesla can build the car.
Build the battery.
Build the autonomy system.
Operate the network.
Control the app.
Control the charging.
And the team designed the Cybercab from Day 1 around being a Robotaxi instead of taking a normal consumer car and trying to make the economics work.
This is a big deal.
Bc if Tesla can manufacture these at huge scale, keep them on the road for most of the day, and keep bringing the cost per mile down, then Uber and Lyft are going to be competing with the company that built the vehicle, the driver, and the network ALL AT ONCE.
And this was during launch week... with just ~45 Cybercabs, before this vehicle is anywhere close to mature scale. If Tesla can push that cost down further as the fleet grows to thousands and millions, while Uber and Lyft still have to pay a human being to sit behind the wheel…
I really don't see how these companies can survive... I think the days of Uber and Lyft are limited.
After a few days of riding in the Cybercab, here's some feedback and a wishlist for the @Tesla team:
• USB port lighting: The 90W USB ports are great, but they're recessed under the screen where the dome light can't reach. Finding them at night is a guessing game. A small light near the ports would fix it.
• Sun visor side adjustment: The visor only pivots up and down. There's no way to swing it to the side when the sun is coming through the side window.
• Vanity mirror light: No lighting around the vanity mirror currently.
• Wireless phone charging: Every other Tesla has a wireless charger, but in the Cybercab you have to remember to bring a cable.
• In-car WiFi / Starlink hotspot: If the vision is for riders to work and play during the ride, letting us connect our own devices to in-car WiFi would go a long way. A Starlink-backed hotspot would be a killer feature.
• Door closing too eagerly: Several times I stepped out, leaned back in to grab my backpack or camera gear, and the door started closing on me. Some kind of occupant or obstruction detection at the doorway would help.
• Highway and railroad crossings: A ride that would take 6 minutes driving manually was quoted at 50 minutes in Robotaxi because the car avoids railroad tracks and highways. Expanding where it can drive would make a huge difference for real-world usability.
• Windshield cleaning via Grok: Asking Grok to run the wipers and washer would be a nice touch. As someone prone to motion sickness, a clean windshield genuinely matters.
• Rear camera view during the ride: You already show the rearward cameras at the end of the ride. An option to pull them up on the main screen anytime would let riders see what's behind the vehicle.
To be clear, the overall experience is genuinely excellent. The ride quality, the interior, and the tech all feel like a glimpse of the future, and none of this list changes that. These are small refinements to something that's already great, and addressing even a few of them would make the Cybercab experience that much better.
Here is a POV look at when you book a Cybercab and walk up to it to get in. You definitely feel like a king getting into his chariot. It is a premium experience
Un piéton complètement invisible jusqu’au dernier moment, occulté par la voiture blanche, se jette devant elle en grillant le feu rouge piéton. Le Cybercab réagit très bien en freinage d’urgence 👍🏻
Certaines personnes sont dingues ou suicidaires… 😱