Tesla began operating its first Cybercabs — robotaxis without steering wheels or pedals — on public streets in Austin, but the launch was quickly overshadowed by a federal safety investigation and a muted market reaction. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a probe into Tesla just hours after the vehicles hit the road, since federal rules normally require manual controls such as brake pedals, though Tesla self-certified the vehicles under standard automaker procedure. The episode matters because it casts doubt on whether Tesla can scale its robotaxi ambitions safely, at a moment when CEO Elon Musk has staked much of the company's future value on autonomy and robotics.

The Cybercab event in Austin was notably subdued compared with previous Tesla launches, lacking the usual festival atmosphere, and Musk himself did not attend. Wall Street was unimpressed, and as of the article's publication Tesla had registered just 45 Cybercabs in Texas, according to the state's automated vehicle tracker — far behind rival Waymo's scale. The US Department of Transportation has separately proposed removing the requirement for manual controls in self-driving vehicles, but that change has not yet taken effect, leaving Tesla's rollout in a regulatory grey area as the NHTSA investigation proceeds.