Tesla has expanded public road testing of its Cybercab robotaxi to five US states ahead of production starting in April.
The company is now testing its purpose-built fully autonomous vehicle, in Massachusetts, according to Tesla shareholder Sawyer Merritt, who first reported spotting the Cybercab in Danvers on Friday.
However, in the testing phase, the vehicles are equipped with a steering wheel and pedals.
According to the recent sightings, the Elon Musk-led company has a testing fleet of ten Cybercabs, with the figures expected to grow exponentially over the next few months.
The sighting marks the fifth state where Tesla has deployed the vehicle for road testing, joining California, Texas, New York and Illinois.
The geographic expansion comes weeks after Tesla began highway testing in early January, starting in Austin, Texas, where the company launched a small scale robotaxi service using modified Model Y vehicles last June.
Rapid Expansion
Tesla has moved quickly to broaden its testing footprint this month.
On January 10, footage emerged of a Cybercab on I-290S in Buffalo heading toward Giga New York.
The same day, Senator John Cornyn posted images of Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senator John Barrasso visiting Tesla’s Austin plant with CEO Elon Musk and VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy to inspect the Cybercab production line.
“What Tesla has built is remarkable,” Cornyn wrote on X. “Texas is proud to have Elon in our state, creating thousands of jobs, making massive investments and building a brighter and more prosperous future for our world.”
Two days later, Tesla shared an image of the Cybercab in front of Wrigley Field in Chicago, confirming testing had begun in Illinois.
Regulatory Tailwinds
The testing expansion coincides with growing legislative momentum for autonomous vehicles.
This week, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee reviewed the Self Drive Act of 2026, which would establish a federal framework permitting vehicles without traditional steering wheels.
Tesla currently operates 199 Model Y robotaxis on public roads, with 158 deployed in the San Francisco Bay Area and 41 in Austin, according to robotaxi tracking data.
Separately, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) granted Tesla on Friday an extension on the deadline to respond to the investigation into the Full Self-Driving (FSD) software.
The company has over 8,000 records in its hands to review.
