Tesla's "Golden Chariot" exploded on Twitter, and the autonomous taxi Cybercab made its debut at the Texas Gigafactory today

When a fully gold-plated Tesla Cybercab made a dazzling appearance on Elon Musk's Twitter homepage, it instantly ignited a frenzy of imagination among netizens worldwide.

On the 9th, Tesla CEO Elon Musk retweeted a post about Tesla's autonomous taxi (Cybercab) on the social platform X, which mentioned:

"The Tesla Cybercab is cruising autonomously near the Texas Gigafactory today. I can't wait for the day these cars are everywhere on public roads."

The video features a golden Tesla Cybercab, which the blogger introduced as a two-seater.

Tesla's "Golden War Chariot" Blows Up Twitter

After the video was released, the comment section seemed to split into two major camps. The "Musk followers" have already imagined scenes from a sci-fi movie:

"I want someone to drive me to Costco, drop me off at the door, and then park. When I'm done shopping, it can pick me up at the door and drive me home, where my Tesla robot can unload everything and put it away. That's the future I want."

"Such a futuristic look! So cool!"

"There are 113 days left until the end of June!"

"I want one!"

However, some netizens raised doubts about Tesla's autonomous driving technology. Because Tesla has long blamed users for accidents related to its FSD driver assistance system, claiming that the owners were not ready to take over driving.

"I can't wait to sue when they cause an accident or serious injury."

"I think they're great. For me, they are very cool cars. I just feel like I'll never own one. I live on a long dirt road that turns into a mud bath when it rains, and I don't think that's good for any electric vehicle."”

The number of parts in Cybercab is only half that of Model 3

Tesla's Cybercab autonomous taxi made its debut at the Tesla "WE, ROBOT" launch event held last October. The vehicle is a two-door coupe with a gullwing door design. Musk stated that the Tesla Robotaxi showcased this time is named Cybercab, with no steering wheel and pedals, and the vehicle cost is expected to be below $30,000, with production set to begin in 2026.

During the Tesla earnings call on January 30, Musk expressed confidence in launching the autonomous taxi service in Austin, Texas, this June.

“I have discussed this with the team, and we are confident in launching the initial unsupervised, fully autonomous driving in June in Austin. We have already conducted fully autonomous driving without anyone in the car at our Fremont factory, and we will soon do the same at our Texas factory.”

On the evening of December 3, 2024, at an event held at Tesla's showroom in San Jose, California, Cybercab's chief engineer Eric gave a rare close-up introduction to the design concept and details of this futuristic vehicle. Eric said:

“ We will deliver a model with only half the number of parts of today's Model 3.”

He introduced that this vehicle uses the FSD V13 version, and besides the two-seat design, it also has no steering wheel and pedals.

“This also means that when you need to clean a shared mobility vehicle, you no longer have to worry about multiple doors and seats; you only have two seats that can be easily cleaned automatically, and there are very few areas that require daily maintenance.”

The Cybercab trunk can accommodate multiple golf bags, two full-size carry-on suitcases, and two full-size checked bags simultaneously. Depending on the size, a certain number of bicycles can also be stored.

Texas becomes a "driverless paradise," but who will manage safety risks?

It is important to note that Musk has repeatedly promised to launch fully autonomous Tesla vehicles over the past decade but has yet to deliver.

While it remains uncertain when Tesla will truly deploy fully autonomous driving technology, some analyses point out that Texas's legal environment provides convenience for Tesla to launch its autonomous taxi service.At the end of 2021, Musk moved the company's headquarters from California to Austin, Texas, precisely because of the policy advantages in Texas.

Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina specializing in autonomous driving, expressed skepticism about Tesla's large-scale deployment of autonomous driving technology in Texas or elsewhere, especially after Tesla showcased the robotaxi concept car Cybercab at a film studio near Los Angeles last October, where people were not satisfied with its performance.

Smith believes:

"Tesla cannot suddenly make all vehicles capable of autonomous driving anywhere and under any conditions."