Three US senators toured Tesla‘s Cybercab production line in Austin on Friday, with images shared by Senator John Cornyn offering a glimpse of the company’s preparations to manufacture its purpose-built autonomous vehicle.
Cornyn, a Texas Republican, visited Tesla‘s Gigafactory alongside Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senator John Barrasso.
CEO Elon Musk and Lars Moravy, Tesla‘s vice president of vehicle engineering, led the tour.
“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.”
Production Line Preview
Images from the visit show the senators examining what appears to be an early Cybercab prototype labeled “V-001” alongside signage reading “Tesla Cybercab Zero Emissions.”
The Cybercab, unveiled at Tesla‘s “We, Robot” event in October 2024, is designed without a steering wheel or pedals for fully autonomous operation.
The company plans to begin production in April at its Austin facility.
Musk has been reaffirming the importance of the Cybercab production line to Tesla‘s future.
“The Tesla factory, especially our next gen Cybercab line, is the product,” he wrote on X last April. “That, autonomy and Optimus, are what matter.”
Highway Testing
The visit comes as Cybercab prototypes have been spotted highway testing in Austin over recent days, signaling progress toward the April production target.
Tesla currently operates a robotaxi service in Austin using modified Model Y vehicles with safety monitors. The company plans to expand the service to the Bay Area using Cybercabs once production ramps.
Nvidia Competition
The senators’ tour followed Nvidia’s announcement at CES on Monday of “Alpamayo,” which CEO Jensen Huang called the world’s first “thinking, reasoning autonomous vehicle AI.”
The platform will launch on US roads later this year, starting with the Mercedes-Benz CLA.
“Alpamayo introduces Vision-Language-Action models, which enable self-driving systems to interpret what they see, reason about complex driving scenarios, and generate driving actions,” Huang said on stage.
Musk responded on X, downplaying the competitive threat.
“Well that’s just exactly what Tesla is doing,” he wrote. “What they will find is that it’s easy to get to 99% and then super hard to solve the long tail of the distribution.”
Wall Street Outlook
New Street named Tesla its top stock pick earlier this week.
Analyst Pierre Ferragu, among the most bullish voices on Tesla alongside Wedbush Securities, said the autonomous vehicle announcements at CES validated the company’s long-term strategy — with competitors now following a path Tesla charted years ago.
“The signal from Vegas is loud and clear,” Ferragu wrote Tuesday. “The industry isn’t catching up to Tesla; it is actively validating Tesla’s strategy… just with a 12-year lag.”
Canaccord Genuity analyst George Gianarikas echoed the optimism, saying in a research note this week that 2026 is “shaping up to be a bountiful year” for Tesla.
“With the anticipated scale-up of Cybercab and Optimus Gen 3 production, alongside a possible acceleration in Semi output and continued expansion in energy storage driven by the launch of Megapack 3 — new products galore,” Gianarikas wrote.
He reiterated his Buy rating and $551 price target on Tesla shares.
