Tesla announced on Tuesday that the first Cybercab has rolled off the production line at Giga Texas, about six weeks earlier than originally scheduled — and just 20 days after the company reaffirmed that timeline.
On January 28, they said production of the model remained on track for April, just a few months after CEO Elon Musk announced the target at the company’s Annual Shareholder Meeting.
The news prompted Tesla enthusiasts on social media to recall a bet made by tech reviewer Marques Brownlee — known as MKBHD — in late 2024, upon the unveiling of the Cybercab.
Musk said then that the purpose-built, fully autonomous vehicle — designed without a steering wheel or pedals — would be available for purchase.
“You will be able to buy one,” he stated, adding that Tesla expected “the cost to be below $30,000.”
By that point, the YouTuber said he would shave his head if Tesla was able to deliver a Cybercab to a customer priced at $30,000 before 2027.
Hours after the company announced the first produced unit, CEO Elon Musk wrote in an X reply regarding the bet that it is “gonna happen.”
Reminded by another user on X that the bet required both a customer delivery and a $30,000 price, and questioned whether he was implying that would actually happen, the Chief Executive replied, “Yes.”
MKBHD Bet
In a video reacting to the model’s unveiling in late 2024, MKBHD said he was concerned about the timeline, which he pointed to as the “biggest red flag.”
“I mean, this is notorious Elon stuff. He gets on stage, he says ‘we’re gonna have this vehicle out for $30,000 before 2027,'” Brownlee stated, adding, “No, they’re not, There’s just no way that they’re actually going to be able to do that.”
While noting that he was “not confident they will do it,” the tech reviewer promised, “let’s say they do, I will shave my head on camera.”
Brownlee admitted that he wanted “to be optimistic, but there’s just too much stacked up against it.”
“To ship this at all, with no steering wheel and everything, they have to get all the regulatory approval for the full self-driving,” he flagged, while reminding that Tesla would also need to “get all the prices down in spite of inflation.”
To “ship something with scissor doors and all this stuff in the next two years, I just– there’s just no way,” MKBHD concluded.
Production
Despite that, Tesla remains confident in achieving production of one Cybercab every 10 seconds — the fastest production rate ever achieved in the automotive industry.
The company is debuting its ‘Unboxing’ manufacturing process, patented last September, on the model’s manufacturing lines.
Tesla further aims to halve the average time to only five seconds per vehicle, as reiterated by Musk in November.
The CEO warned earlier in January, however, that “for Cybercab and Optimus, almost everything is new, so the early production rate will be agonizingly slow.”
Latest Updates
Earlier this month, Tesla filed for two new applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), for the words ‘Cybercar’ and ‘Cybervehicle.’
The applications come after Musk revealed at the latest earnings call that some states do not allow Tesla to use the words ‘Cab’ or ‘Taxi’ when referring to the model or the ride-hailing service.
According to public records, the fully autonomous vehicle will now be called ‘Cybercab,’ ‘Robotaxi,’ ‘Cybercar’ and ‘Cybervehicle’ across the United States.
Last month, Tesla expanded public road testing of the Cybercab model to five US states — including California, Texas, New York, Illinois, and now Massachusetts.
The company recently began winter tests of the model at its Alaska proving grounds.
The first Cybercab units were sighted on California roads in late October, near the company’s engineering headquarters.
Then, in late 2025, Cybercabs were spotted testing on public roads in Austin — where the Robotaxi service debuted months earlier, with modified Model Ys.
