Tesla is preparing to deploy its gold, steering-wheel-free Cybercab vehicles into its Texas robotaxi fleet, with an official launch date of September 3 in Austin. The two-seater pods represent Tesla’s first purpose-built autonomous vehicle, a meaningful upgrade from the modified Model Y sedans that have been handling rides since the company quietly rolled out its robotaxi service in mid-2025.
Hundreds of Cybercabs have already been staged at Gigafactory Texas. Public-road testing in Austin kicked off in June, with employee preview rides following in July, building toward what Tesla clearly hopes will be a splashy debut.
From retrofitted sedans to purpose-built pods
Tesla’s robotaxi journey in Texas has been an exercise in crawl-walk-run. The service launched in mid-2025 using Model Y vehicles retrofitted for autonomous driving, initially with safety operators behind the wheel. Unsupervised rides, meaning no human backup driver, only began in early 2026.
By April 2026, the service had expanded beyond Austin to Dallas and Houston. But the fleet has remained modest. As of late August, Tesla has roughly 270 registered Model Y robotaxis across Texas, with only a low-dozens count actively operating at any given time.
