Tesla Cybercab Fleet Tops 300 in Austin as NHTSA Demands Sworn Answers by Oct 30

Tesla says its Austin robotaxi service has “scaled to 300+ Cybercabs – an 8x increase in 30 days.” Texas DMV registration records listed 319 registered Cybercabs and 739 Tesla autonomous vehicles in total as of October 10, though third-party trackers counting vehicles actually in service found fewer — about 354 total vehicles, 178 of them Cybercabs.

The purpose-built, steering-wheel-free Cybercab — now EPA-certified and built at Giga Texas — opened to the general public in Austin on September 4, 2026. Anyone 13 and older can ride via the Tesla Robotaxi app across a 264-square-mile area from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Cybercabs make up about 39% of the robotaxi fleet but only around 11% of rides, per Motley Fool data cited this week.

Growth this fast has regulators’ attention. NHTSA’s audit of Tesla’s self-certification remains open, and according to Teslarati, sworn answers are due October 30. That sits on top of an earlier NHTSA review focused on Tesla robotaxi operations near school zones. A car with no steering wheel or pedals cannot be manually overridden by anyone inside it — the entire point of the product, and exactly the design choice regulators want more data on before the fleet scales further. Tesla reports Q3 results on October 21.

What’s next: Tesla’s head of AI software, Ashok Elluswamy, wrote “Dallas soon” — the first named expansion city after Austin. Phoenix and Las Vegas applications are still pending, and Europe has no regulatory path yet. One personnel note worth watching: Cybercab general-assembly chief Jody Kerns left Giga Texas for Rivian’s R2 plant, per Electrek.