Tesla’s Cybercab goes on sale for ‘personal use’ but Elon Musk admits the monthly cost of ownership is ‘too high'

Tesla Cybercab
The Tesla Cybercab (Image credit: Tesla)

  • "Select customers" can now place an order for a Cybercab
  • The vehicle can only be used in certain cities
  • Elon Musk says the current $300-a-month subscription is too pricey

We've had quite the wait for the Tesla Cybercab to go from a promise made by company CEO Elon Musk to an actual reality, but following on from the introduction of the self-driving car as a robotaxi for the public, it's now available for individuals to buy too.

As per one of Tesla's accounts on social media, "select customers are now being invited" to buy a Cybercab "for personal use", though there's quite an extensive list of caveats to that — starting with that "select customers" part.

There is no public order page, and Tesla isn't saying who gets invites or how. We do know prominent tech reviewer Marques Brownlee has an invite, quite possibly because after the Cybercab's October 2024 unveiling, he went on record as saying he'd shave his head on camera if it became available for less than $30,000 before 2027.

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The question of whether the invite-only system counts as 'available' is a sticking point here, as does the price. While it's $29,990 up front, there's also a $300-per-month subscription, which even Elon Musk has admitted is "too high".

Place your bets

There are other reasons why Brownlee's hair might be safe. The "estimated" delivery time is December, so if there's any delay on getting these to customers then the Cybercab won't have arrived for personal use before the end of 2026, invalidating the bet.

Then there's the geofencing. As you might imagine, there are only a few places in the US where fully self-driving cars are allowed, and at the moment the Cybercab will only function within those areas — specifically, a select number of cities in Texas and Florida.

As Brownlee lives in New York, he's not going to be able to use his new $300-per-month Cybercab to get around his home area — at least not until there's wider regulatory approval for these vehicles. Nevertheless, the celebrity YouTuber has gone ahead and placed an order to see what happens.

It's not clear exactly how many Cybercab robotaxis are in operation in Texas and Florida at the moment, but Tesla is clearly ramping up production and operations — and it might not be too long before anyone can get hold of one.


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David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

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