Tesla said Wednesday that Cybercab production remains on schedule for the first half of 2026, with less than 100 days remaining until CEO Elon Musk’s target of beginning manufacturing in April.
“Preparations continue in North America for the production ramps of Tesla Semi and Cybercab, both commencing 1H26, and production of the next-generation Roadster,” Tesla stated in its shareholder deck released alongside fourth-quarter earnings.
Tesla unveiled the Cybercab, a purpose-built fully autonomous vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals, at its “We, Robot” event in October 2024.
Musk outlined the model’s production timeline during Tesla‘s Annual Shareholder Meeting last November, stating that manufacturing would begin in April.
“Cybercab, Tesla Semi and Megapack 3 are on schedule for volume production starting in 2026,” Tesla said. “First generation production lines for Optimus are being installed in anticipation of volume production.”
The company said it continues “to evolve and augment our product lineup with a focus on cost, scale and future monetization opportunities via services powered by our AI software.”
Additional details are expected during Tesla‘s earnings conference call scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Latest Updates
With the ‘Unboxing’ manufacturing process, patented last September, the company aims to produce one Cybercab every 10 seconds — the fastest production rate ever achieved in the automotive industry.
At a later stage, the company aims to halve the average time to only five seconds per vehicle.
Earlier this month, Musk said that “for Cybercab and Optimus, almost everything is new, so the early production rate will be agonizingly slow,” however adding that it will “eventually end up being insanely fast.”
The chief executive stated last week that it’s “probably true” that the Cybercab model could cost less than $0.20 per mile by 2030.
Musk was reacting to a research report published by Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management firm that compared it to their $0.40 cost estimate for Waymo’s robotaxis.
Cybercab Testing
Tesla has expanded public road testing of the Cybercab model to five US states — including California, Texas, New York, Illinois, and now Massachusetts.
The first Cybercab units had first been sighted on California roads in late October, near the company’s engineering headquarters.
Then, in late 2025, the first Cybercabs were spotted testing on public roads in Austin — where the Robotaxi service debuted months earlier, with modified Model Ys.
It is still unclear whether Tesla intends to keep these models under service or if the upcoming fleet will use only Cybercab units.
Although the model is designed to operate without pedals or a steering wheel, all testing vehicles include it for safety reasons.
Tesla also recently began winter tests of the model at its Alaska proving grounds.
Before integrating the Cybercab into its Robotaxi service, Tesla is moving toward offering rides without safety monitors inside the vehicle — a key step toward reducing operating costs by lowering labor expenses.
Late last week, the company began offering public rides without in-vehicle safety monitors.
However, in line with its safety-first approach, only a small number of Model Ys in the current fleet are operating in driverless mode, and each is accompanied by a chase car.
Earlier on Wednesday, Wedbush’s analyst Dan Ives said the firm estimates Tesla to be operating robotaxis across “over 30 US cities” this year.
“Big focus on Tesla call will be Robotaxi rollout,” the analyst wrote on X. “Musk is now driving Tesla into its next stage of growth as ‘wartime CEO’ and we expect Robotaxis to be rolled out to over 30 US cities in 2026.”
Say Technologies
One of the most discussed topics among shareholders on the Say Technologies platform was the company’s overall EV strategy.
Tesla uses the platform to collect questions from retail and institutional investors ahead of its earnings calls.
An institutional investor asked: “Today there are ~90M cars sold globally each year, does Tesla have a view based on its robotaxi ambition what this number will be in 5 or 10 years and how does this impact Tesla‘s EV strategy to have more models?”
Voted by over 500 shareholders holding a total of 3.9 million shares, the question ranked first in the platform.
Another popular question, from a retail investor, received over 450 votes representing nearly 550,000 shares.
They asked, “Regarding the Cybercab: What’s the expected production timeline? Will they initially join Tesla‘s robotaxi fleet or be available for direct sale? How quickly do you anticipate the production ramp-up?”
