Tesla has begun inviting select customers to buy its Cybercab robotaxi for personal use, the first time a vehicle designed without a steering wheel or pedals has gone on sale to private buyers. The company announced the move on Friday through its Robotaxi account on X, with the two-seat car listed at $29,990 before taxes and a $1,000 non-refundable deposit required to place an order.
The headline price comes with a significant condition. Buyers must also take out Tesla’s Autonomy Subscription, priced at $299 a month, with the first month included. The order page states that the subscription and regular vehicle maintenance are required for the car to operate — and with no steering wheel, pedals or manual fallback, a Cybercab without an active subscription simply will not move. The offer is invitation-only and limited to the United States, for personal use only, and the car will operate only inside the areas where Tesla already runs its Robotaxi service.
Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, acknowledged the subscription looks steep. In a post on X he said the monthly fee was too high and should instead match the combined cost of the company’s Full Self-Driving package and connectivity services on its other models, about $115 a month. Tesla’s head of artificial intelligence, Ashok Elluswamy, said separately that privately owned Cybercabs would work unsupervised in the same geofenced locations as the company’s robotaxi fleet.
Tesla is targeting first customer deliveries in December, in Austin, Texas, where its unsupervised robotaxi service began in June 2025. The service has since expanded to Dallas and Houston, and to Miami in July. Lars Moravy, Tesla’s vice-president of vehicle engineering, said last month that the company aimed to start selling Cybercabs to the public by the end of this year.
The Cybercab was unveiled in October 2024, when Musk promised a price below $30,000 and production before 2027. At $29,990, the sticker is the lowest Tesla has ever put on a vehicle — but the subscription adds $3,588 a year, taking the first-year cost to about $33,578 before tax, insurance and maintenance. Tesla has not said how invited buyers are chosen, how many invitations it is sending, or when orders will open to everyone. Federal regulators are also still examining how Tesla certified a vehicle with no conventional steering controls; the company answered a special order from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration by its 30 October deadline, but asked for its certification answers to be kept confidential.
Sources: Reuters; CleanTechnica — https://cleantechnica.com/2026/11/13/tesla-starts-selling-cybercab-30000/
