Tesla plans to begin the sale of its driverless Cybercab vehicles by the end of 2026, as the electric-vehicle maker expands its ambitions in autonomous transportation.
Lars Moravy, Tesla's vice president of engineering, shared the timeline during the company's third-quarter earnings call. However, the initial rollout is expected to be limited as the company learns how to manage autonomous vehicles in customers' hands.
Moravy said Tesla is already manufacturing Cybercabs at its Texas Gigafactory, though the vehicles currently being produced are intended for the company's own robotaxi fleet.
The automaker plans to start with a small number of customer deliveries before gradually expanding sales. According to Moravy, Tesla wants to learn about owning and managing an autonomous vehicle fleet before scaling up the program.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk also said that the vast majority of Cybercabs would remain essentially Tesla-owned and operate through the company's ride-hailing service.
Tesla first unveiled the Cybercab in 2024. In September 2026, the company began offering rides in the vehicle through its Robotaxi app in Austin, Texas.
The automaker has also started accepting inquiries from interested buyers. Its outreach targets entities that can help build its robotaxi network, suggesting initial sales could focus on companies that can purchase and operate entire fleets rather than individual customers.
The strategy could let Tesla expand its autonomous ride-hailing operations while keeping control of a significant share of the vehicles.
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Unlike Tesla's other vehicles, the Cybercab has no steering wheel or brake pedals. The two-seat vehicle has been designed to operate autonomously and relies on Tesla's Full Self-Driving software.
However, the company's Unsupervised Full Self-Driving system is not yet available to consumers. Tesla currently offers the Supervised version, which requires a human driver to remain behind the wheel.
This creates a challenge for the initial customer rollout, as Tesla cannot add Cybercabs to its ride-hailing fleet until the necessary autonomous driving capabilities are available.
Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's director of AI, said the company believes it could begin activating Unsupervised Full Self-Driving on some of the first customer vehicles intended for the robotaxi fleet around the second quarter of 2027.
Tesla's Cybercab plans also face regulatory scrutiny. Shortly after the company began offering rides in Austin, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched an investigation into the vehicles.
The agency said Tesla had self-certified that the Cybercabs complied with applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. The investigation will examine the automaker's process and data used to establish compliance.
The outcome could affect how quickly Tesla expands deployment of the vehicle. While the company aims to begin customer sales by the end of 2026, its broader robotaxi ambitions will depend on its autonomous driving software, regulatory requirements, and its ability to manage fleets at scale.