Tesla's Cybercab Robotaxi Has a Series of Problems on Launch

Billionaire Elon Musk has tied Tesla's financial future to self-driving technology, as Tesla sales plummet. He said Tesla would roll out the service to other US cities by the end of the year and predicted that "millions of Teslas" would be operating "fully autonomously" by the second half of next year.

Tesla fans who were invited to participate in the testing were overwhelmingly supportive, posting videos of hours of trouble-free driving. But there were also several incidents that caught the attention of federal highway safety regulators and auto safety experts.

A Tesla robot taxi drives along South Congress Avenue in Austin. Photo: REUTERS/Joel Angel Juarez

Issues include Tesla robot taxis driving in the wrong lane, dropping passengers in the middle of multi-lane roads or at intersections, braking hard, speeding, and driving over curbs, etc.

In one instance, a Cybercab entered the oncoming lane for about six seconds. It entered an intersection in the left turn lane with its turn signal on. Then the steering wheel shook for a moment, and instead of turning, it veered straight into the oncoming lane, causing a car behind it to honk its horn.

In another incident, the vehicle suddenly brakes, with no obstructions shown in the video. Passengers are thrown forward and their belongings are thrown to the floor.

In a third video, filmed from another car, a robot taxi suddenly stops twice in the middle of the road as it passes police cars with flashing lights.

Cybercab was "startled" when he saw the police car on the right, continuously stepped on the brakes several times before continuing to move. Photo: Youtube

“The influx of videos of erratic and poor driving so early was very surprising,” said Philip Koopman, a computer engineering professor and auto industry expert at Carnegie Mellon University. “I didn’t expect so many videos of problematic driving on the first day,” he said.

Such incidents have even been caught on security cameras in the city. Tesla is testing about 10 to 20 robot taxis, which are standard Model Y cars with advanced software, and have been running since Sunday afternoon.

Tesla has not yet commented on the reports. A spokesperson for the City of Austin said officials are aware of Tesla-related issues reported on social media and that “when potential legal or safety concerns are brought to our attention, we promptly share them with the company.”

The spokesperson added that the police department is “actively working with Tesla” to ensure officers can safely interact with robotaxes.

General Motors’ Cruise has also been involved in traffic accidents since it hit Austin streets. City officials have documented dozens of incidents over the past two years in which residents and authorities have reported robot taxis blocking roads by stopping in the middle of the road, not responding to police directions, and failing to handle emergency vehicles and road closures.

A fatal accident involving a pedestrian in 2023 forced Cruise to shut down last year. Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, is the only robotaxi service in the United States that transports paying passengers without a backup driver or on-board safety monitoring. Earlier this year, the company began offering rides to the public through Uber in Austin.