Tesla opens Cybercab orders at $29,990 with a required subscription

By Tom Whitfield

Tesla has opened orders for select customers to buy a Cybercab for personal use at $29,990 before taxes, with a $1,000 non-refundable deposit. Tesla's Robotaxi account announced the invitations on X on Friday, Nov. 13, using screenshots of the order page and invitation email.

The order page estimates delivery in December 2026 in Austin, where unsupervised operations are already active. Tesla builds the vehicle at Gigafactory Texas, and the Cybercab has run in limited Robotaxi service in Austin since September alongside Tesla's larger Model Y fleet.

What does a buyer get?

The two-seat Cybercab has no steering wheel or pedals. Its order materials list a 21-inch center touchscreen and 20.1 cubic feet of cargo space, and direct owners to manage rides through the app. For buyers, the purchase price does not buy unrestricted use of the car.

How does the subscription change the price?

A $299-a-month Autonomy Subscription is pre-checked and cannot be removed on the order page. Tesla's fine print states: "Subscription and regular vehicle maintenance required to operate." The first month comes with the purchase.

That fee adds $3,588 annually. Elon Musk had promised a Cybercab below $30,000 at its 2024 unveiling, and the purchase price meets that threshold. Adding five years of subscription produces a total of about $47,600 before taxes, insurance, charging and maintenance. The commercial distinction is simple: Tesla has matched the headline price while placing the operating commitment on a recurring subscription.

Where can the Cybercab operate?

Because the Cybercab has no manual controls, it can operate only within Tesla's Robotaxi service areas. Tesla's service currently spans eight cities: Austin, Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth and San Antonio in Texas, plus Miami, Orlando and Tampa in Florida.

The invitation email limits availability to those supported service areas. Tesla opened San Antonio last month with a 275-square-mile zone. An independent tracker cited by Electrek found that app-accepted pickup and drop-off areas covered only 59% to 78% of advertised geofences in six cities he checked. The tracker measured about 59% coverage in Austin. For customers, an eight-city footprint does not guarantee an eight-city driving area.

Why is Tesla selling Cybercabs to individuals?

On its third-quarter earnings call, Tesla executives said the vast majority of Cybercabs would remain company-owned and operate in the ride-hailing service. Some vehicles would reach customers by year-end, which the invitation-only Austin offer meets on a small scale. Tesla has not disclosed how many Cybercabs it built or how many it will sell to individuals. Bloomberg reported this week that Tesla and SpaceX are discussing a merger, with an announcement possible in December. The retail offer tests private ownership without changing Tesla's fleet-centered strategy.

What does NHTSA's inquiry change?

The United States does not pre-approve vehicle designs; automakers self-certify compliance with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. Tesla certified the Cybercab as compliant, while NHTSA opened an audit query on Sept. 3, the day commercial Cybercab rides began in Austin.

NHTSA escalated that query into a formal Special Order on Sept. 10, with 21 requests. The agency asked Tesla to prove under oath that a vehicle without a foot brake complies with FMVSS No. 135.

FMVSS No. 135 says that "the service brakes shall be activated by means of a foot control." The Cybercab has no foot control, and NHTSA proposed rewriting the rule for automated vehicles in June without finalizing the proposal. Civil penalties for failing to answer the Special Order fully and truthfully can reach $139 million. Tesla responded on Oct. 30, requested confidentiality for its entire response, and has received no ruling. Unlike Amazon's Zoox, which obtained a temporary Part 555 waiver in July, Tesla holds no such exemption. Zoox's waiver covers eight standards, including the foot-brake and mirror rules, and caps production at 2,500 vehicles a year through 2028. The unresolved inquiry leaves Tesla's pedal-free design under active federal scrutiny even as the company accepts orders.

What comes next?

The next public milestones are December deliveries in Austin, an NHTSA ruling and a possible Tesla-SpaceX merger announcement. Until Tesla reports build and sales totals, the commercial scale of the $29,990 purchase and $299 subscription remains uncertain.