Tesla Cybercabs are under federal investigation a day after Austin launch
The vehicles have no steering wheels or pedals, which appears to be central to the NHTSA probe.
Federal transportation officials have opened an investigation into Tesla's self-driving taxis, hours after the automaker held a launch event for the Cybercab in Austin. The vehicles have no pedals or steering wheels, which appears to be at the center of the probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
TechCrunch was first to report the NHTSA investigation.
In a brief summarizing the audit query it is conducting, the NHTSA notes that Tesla had "notified the Agency that it certified those Cybercab vehicles as compliant with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS)." Under federal law, automakers are allowed to self-certify that their vehicles meet safety regulations. Those regulations, however, require cars to have steering wheels and brakes.
The NHTSA wants to know if Tesla's self-certification of the Cybercab "depended on determinations that certain F.M.V.S.S. are inapplicable to the Cybercab," meaning that the company may have decided some of the regulations did not apply to the self-driving taxis.
Tesla launched its Cybercabs at a glitzy invitation-only event in Austin on Thursday night, where it invited influencers to take test rides in the vehicles. The company teased the event on its social media, with a post to X two hours before the launch that said "the future has arrived in Austin," and a voice-over from CEO Elon Musk describing the Cybercab as "the first vehicle specifically built for unsupervised full self-driving."
The company first revealed a prototype for the Cybercab in 2024 at an event on a Hollywood soundstage. Tesla has registered 45 Cybercabs as part of its robotaxi fleet in Texas, but has said rides in Cybercabs will only be available in a limited section of Austin. The company began robotaxi service in Austin last year, using modified versions of its Model Y.
Tesla did not reply to a request for comment on Friday. The company's stock was down more than 5% in early trading.
Gathered from external sources. Rights to this text belong to whoever originally published it.