When you wake up, Robotaxi takes you to work, and then you go to work to make money. This may sound like a fantasy, but it will become a reality in the near future.Because just recently, Tesla rolled off the production line of its first Cybercab, an autonomous car without a steering wheel and pedals. Although Cybercab is not yet available for sale, Musk has confirmed thatThis car won’t cost more than $30,000.
In other words, in the future, for less than the price of a mid-to-high-end car, you can hire yourself a "cyber horse" to make money for you and support your family.
The first Cybercab rolls off the assembly line, Musk: It will be sold for $30,000 next year
Recently, Tesla's first Cybercab mass-produced car rolled off the production line at the Texas factory in the United States. This car is special from the outside to the inside. Looking at the appearance first, you can see that the Cybercab has neither exterior mirrors nor door handles.
The wheel hub adopts a closed design and has the "Cybercab" logo next to it.
The whole car has only two doors, and the doors are scissor-style like those of a supercar.
Opening the door and entering the car, the internal layout of Cybercab is the same as that of many supercars.only two seats.
However, unlike traditional vehicles,Cybercab's main driver does not have a steering wheel or pedals, is a product completely geared towards driverless driving.
This is undoubtedly a milestone work for the automobile industry and Tesla, so Cybercab received Musk’s forwarded congratulations as soon as it came off the assembly line.
Some netizens took advantage of the trend and asked in Musk's comment area:
Teacher Ma, are you sure?Before 2027, users will be able to buy Cybercab for $30,000 or less?
Musk responded on the spot: Yes.
According to today’s exchange rate, US$30,000 is equivalent to approximately RMB206,900 yuan, lower than the price of Model 3 in North America.
For Tesla, this means that Cybercab will become its cheapest product and also has self-driving capabilities. Who is not confused after reading this? There is a big V who wants to pay on the spot and wants to order 100 units first.
For the industry, Cybercab’s pricing is also of great significance. Following the data baseline of 16 billion kilometers, Musk has set a complete vehicle baseline for Robotaxi.
200,000 into Robotaxi vehicle baseline
Chinese practitioners are actually no stranger to the combination of “200,000 and autonomous vehicles”. In May 2024, Luobo Kuaipao revealed that the invoice price of its sixth-generation car RT6 was204,600 yuan, the price is much lower than that of the fifth-generation car.
RT6 later took the lead in being deployed in Wuhan. After the scale was increased, Luobo Kuaipao became a regular UE in the local area, that is,Bike breakeven. From now on, autonomous driving is no longer about losing one car every time it is on the road, and it is starting to make sense.
This is why Robotaxi players around the world have collectively changed their generations in the past year. In February 2025, WeRide's new generation Robotaxi model GXR will start paid services in Beijing.
In early November of the same year, Pony.ai’s 7th generation vehicles were deployed in Guangzhou and Shenzhen and officially started operations.
Due to various factors, Waymo's sixth-generation vehicles have been delayed, and it was recently announced that they will be put into use this summer.
The products of the four Robotaxi pioneers each have their own characteristics, but they all point to a trend:Cost reduction, mainly in these three aspects:
In terms of operations, all new generation models have realized driverless operation, reducing labor costs.
In terms of power, the new products are all pure electric models, which save money on the road rather than using petrol.
In terms of sensors, thanks to the maturity of the smart car industry chain and its own technological innovation, the cost of vehicle autonomous driving kits has dropped significantly.
In addition to these three aspects, the most important price of the entire vehicle has not been disclosed yet. What Luobo Kuaipao gave before was onlyInvoice price, is not equal to the actual price. The price of the entire vehicle reflects the cost of the entire vehicle, because operating vehicles have a limited service life and will be retired when they expire. Lower vehicle costs mean lower depreciation costs. Assume that the cost of an unmanned vehicle is 240,000 yuan and it is scrapped after 8 years of operation. The depreciation cost in that year is 30,000 yuan, and the daily depreciation cost alone exceeds 82 yuan.
The depreciation cost of Cybercab is obviously much lower than 82 yuan, and it can achieve break-even faster, thereby making profits and achieving a closed-loop commercialization. The commercial closed loop is also the ultimate goal that autonomous driving players are currently competing for.
So it seems that Cybercab has an advantage in hardware cost, and 200,000 yuan will become the industry benchmark for complete vehicles.
While Tesla is setting new standards for the industry and making new progress, it is also facing some problems left over from history.
One More Thing
Tesla has been involved in two lawsuits recently, one of which Tesla was the plaintiff. Who did you sue? The local “vehicle management office” in California is the Department of Motor Vehicles (hereinafter referred to as the DMV).
The DMV previously accused Tesla of believing that its "Autopilot" and "Full Self-Driving" functions were false advertising. Later, the relevant departments ruled that the DMV accusation was true. Tesla therefore appealed, asking for the ruling to be vacated.
In another lawsuit, Tesla is the defendant. The lawsuit stems from a fatal accident. In 2019, a Model S equipped with the Autopilot function was involved in a car accident in the United States. A couple was sitting in the car at the time. The woman died on the spot and the man was seriously injured.
Later, the surviving man took Tesla to court and demanded compensation.$243 million, won the lawsuit last August. Tesla naturally appealed, but it was recently rejected. There are reports that Tesla will continue to appeal.
Both of these lawsuits have not yet come to a final conclusion, so Tesla’s next move to autonomous driving will have to solve far more than just technical issues. These incidents also remind the majority of car owners that the current functions of passenger cars are still assisted driving, not driverless, and they must always pay attention to road safety when driving.
The future is driverless, but that future is not here yet.
Reference links:
[1]https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2023900808979386438
[2]https://www.reuters.com/world/us-judge-upholds-243-million-verdict-against-tesla-over-fatal-autopilot-crash-2026-02-20/