Tesla’s Cybercab has no mirrors, no pedals — and now a federal audit

Tesla put its Cybercab robotaxi on Austin’s streets on September 4, at a private event with no livestream and a guest list that signed NDAs. The vehicle ships without a steering wheel, pedals, or side-view mirrors. Within days, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an audit query into how Tesla certified that vehicle as road-legal.

NHTSA said it launched the audit “to examine the process and technical data on which Tesla relied when certifying the Cybercab and related issues.” The agency will consider “the extent to which Tesla’s certification depended on determinations that certain FMVSS are inapplicable to the Cybercab,” according to a notice reported by The Verge. Tesla does not appear to have sought an exemption from the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards that require mirrors, pedals, and a steering wheel. In the US, automakers self-certify compliance, and NHTSA can investigate when the certification looks thin.

The numbers on the ground

The audit covers an estimated 1,000 Cybercabs, but it’s not clear that many exist. As of this week, 45 Cybercabs are registered with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, and The Verge notes that it’s unclear how many will enter commercial service immediately. Tesla’s total fleet of unsupervised autonomous vehicles now stands at 256 across six cities, according to Robotaxi Tracker — versus roughly 4,000 Waymos across 14 cities. That puts the Cybercab’s launch in context: it’s a small and tightly controlled deployment, not a scaling event.

The hidden joystick

Turns out the Cybercab isn’t as control-less as it looks. Riders on X posted videos showing a virtual joystick in the lower-left corner of the central display, with forward and reverse toggles, a stop button, a horn, and door controls. The Verge’s Andrew J. Hawkins reports the controls appear intended for Tesla employees and depot workers to nudge the vehicle at low speeds — a practical workaround for a car with no wheel. Riders who found the joystick tried and failed to drive the Cybercab manually. The feature also raises a question for emergency responders: if a Cybercab blocks a street, who moves it? Tesla has briefed Austin police, but it’s unclear whether the joystick was part of that conversation.

What this means for builders

Two takeaways matter for anyone working on autonomous vehicles. First, even a purpose-built robotaxi with no manual controls still ships with a hidden manual mode for logistics — the design problem doesn’t disappear, it just moves to a software toggle. Second, self-certification is only as robust as the technical argument behind it. Tesla’s claim that certain FMVSS are “inapplicable” to the Cybercab is now the subject of a federal audit, which is a reminder that regulatory risk doesn’t stop at the demo.

Tesla says it plans to sell the Cybercab to customers for an estimated $30,000 and expand robotaxi service to other cities. For now, riders must be at least 13 years old, and an accessibility video showed a wheelchair user folding his own wheelchair to stow it — a detail that drew attention for all the wrong reasons.

The open questions remain basic: Did Tesla certify the Cybercab as compliant by declaring key safety standards inapplicable? How many of the 45 registered vehicles are actually carrying passengers? And will NHTSA’s audit end in a recall, a retrofit mandate, or a change to how Tesla certifies its next vehicle? None of that is settled, but the investigation is already moving faster than the fleet.