Elon Musk has launched his steering wheel-free Tesla Cybercabs on US streets in Austin, Texas, as part of a rollout that will also take place in other cities. The service uses camera-only technology, unlike rivals Waymo and Zoox which supplement cameras with radar and lidar. According to the article, only 16% of U.S. adults are "somewhat" comfortable riding in a driverless car, while 7% say they would be extremely or very comfortable. Tesla's stock rose over 5% on Thursday amid hopes that the futuristic taxis will catch on quickly.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-06,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Elon Musk sent dozens of self-driving Cybercabs without steering wheels or brake pedals onto the streets of Austin, Texas, on Thursday, betting that Americans will overcome their fears of rides with “no control” and hop inside.
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Americans → send → control
The rollout of the gold-colored Teslas, which give passengers no way to take control in an emergency, comes as the company prepares to launch the service in other cities.
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company → give → cities
Tesla shares have suffered amid a slump in vehicle sales, but they rose more than 5% Thursday on hopes that the futuristic-looking taxis will catch on quickly.
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taxis → suffer → hopes
“No steering wheel, no pedals,” Tesla teased on X before the launch.
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Tesla → tease → launch
Musk followed with a post showing a giant Cybercab floating above the Austin skyline and later wrote, “A Storm of Cybercabs.”
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Musk → follow → Cybercabs
An invitation-only launch event was expected to be held later Thursday.
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event → expect → ?
It is unclear how soon Musk intends to roll out the Cybercab service, but he needs to move quickly.
uncertain
he → intend → service
Tesla trails self-driving taxi leader Waymo in the number of cabs deployed and trips completed.
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Tesla → trail → cabs
To catch up, it must demonstrate that its camera-only system can safely navigate streets and avoid pedestrians.
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system → catch → pedestrians
By contrast, Waymo and another rival, Amazon’s Zoox, supplement cameras with radar and a laser-based technology called lidar.
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Waymo → supplement → radar
Even if the technology works well, Americans still need to be convinced.
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Americans → work → ?
A Pew Research Center survey conducted in February found that seven in 10 U.S. adults were “not too” or “not at all” comfortable riding in a driverless car.
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adults → conduct → car
Tesla stock was battered last year after Musk took over President Donald Trump’s government cost-cutting campaign, dubbed DOGE, and embraced extreme-right political candidates, sparking protests at Tesla showrooms and boycotts by car buyers in several countries.
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Musk → batter → countries
Tesla posted a second consecutive annual decline in vehicle sales last year.
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Tesla → post → sales
Its profits plunged, and it lost its crown as the world’s best-selling electric vehicle maker to China’s BYD.
Austin has had a self-driving Tesla “robotaxi” service since June last year, but those cars are equipped with steering wheels and brake pedals.
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cars → plunge → wheels
The service, which has since expanded to five other cities in Texas and Florida, initially carried passengers with safety drivers aboard to take over in case of problems.
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which → expand → problems
Tesla has more than 200 “unsupervised” robotaxis in those cities, meaning they operate without safety drivers aboard, according to the monitoring site RobotaxiTracker.
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they → have → site
Waymo has more than 4,000 such vehicles in 14 cities.
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Waymo → have → cities
In the Pew survey, 16% of U.S. adults said they would be “somewhat” comfortable riding in a driverless car, while 7% said they would be “extremely” or “very” comfortable.
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they → say → car
Separate Gallup polling conducted in 2025 found that skepticism about the safety of driverless cars had risen over the previous several years.
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skepticism → conduct → years
More Americans said all or mostly human-operated cars were the safest option than in a 2018 poll.
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Americans → say → poll
It is unclear whether Musk is the right person to coax people into cars with no human controls.
uncertain
Musk → coax → controls
Another Pew poll conducted in January found that nearly six in 10 U.S. adults had a “very” or “mostly” unfavorable view of him.
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adults → conduct → him
Musk eventually hopes to send full self-driving software to hundreds of thousands of Teslas through a software update.
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Musk → hop → update
That would allow Tesla owners to turn their cars into taxis for hire when they are not using them.
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they → allow → them
But regulators in the U.S. and overseas have signaled that he still has some convincing to do.
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he → signal → convincing
Tesla has not received approval for drivers to use even its partial self-driving software in most European Union countries.
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drivers → receive → countries
In the U.S., where the software has been downloaded and used, regulators have opened several investigations into its safety.
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regulators → download → safety
One probe is examining the software’s role in several Tesla crashes in fog, sun glare and other low-visibility conditions, including one in which a pedestrian was killed.
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pedestrian → examine → which
Another is investigating dozens of incidents in which Teslas using partial self-driving software ran red lights or drove on the wrong side of the road, sometimes crashing into other vehicles and causing injuries.
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Teslas → investigate → injuries
A third is examining why Tesla apparently violated regulatory requirements by failing to report crashes promptly.
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Tesla → examine → crashes
