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Tesla said Wednesday on its third-quarter earnings call that it will start selling its Cybercab to customers by the end of the year, according to TechCrunch and Engadget. The gold-hued, autonomous two-seater has no steering wheel and no brake pedals, and it relies entirely on Tesla's Full Self-Driving software.
The announcement comes as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigates whether the Cybercab meets federal vehicle safety standards. NHTSA opened its probe last month, just hours after the vehicles began operating on public streets in Austin, Texas.
Cybercab sales plan and robotaxi fleet
Lars Moravy, Tesla's vice president of engineering, said the Cybercabs being produced today at the Gigafactory in Texas are all destined for Tesla's own robotaxi fleet. As that fleet grows, the company will "mainly deliver fully designed autonomous vehicles to our customers," he said, noting it will start small and scale as it learns about delivery, ownership and fleet management.
Tesla first floated the idea of selling the vehicle to third parties last month around its Cybercab event in Austin and even posted a form for people interested in buying robotaxis. Engadget reports the company is looking for entities that can help "build its robotaxi network," indicating it will initially sell to companies that can purchase whole fleets.
Musk: Cybercab is transport as a service
Tesla CEO Elon Musk made clear on the call that the Cybercab is meant for ride-hailing, not personal ownership. "Cybercab is primarily going to be something that is offered as like transport as a service," he said, adding that "the vast majority of the Cybercab stuff will be essentially Tesla-owned and transported as a service."
Musk has talked for years about building a massive fleet of low-cost robotaxis, but until recently those plans centered on turning privately owned Tesla vehicles into self-driving taxis through a software update. That plan has yet to materialize, and Musk's comments on the call show how his views have shifted.
