# Tesla Cybercab

21 Hacker News commenters recommended Tesla Cybercab and 38 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a much cheaper self-driving ride than Waymo, built as a two-seat vehicle. The most common caveat is that its self-driving safety and camera-only approach are unproven.

## Why people recommend it

- Much cheaper than Waymo (5 comments): "Tesla are producing cyber cabs now which are 10th the price of Waymo's and can drive autonomously anywhere in the world." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47119742)) "has about three or four times the efficiency and like a fifth of the price by having smaller, two person vehicles" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49174544)) "seems to be working out great as their cars will cost way less than Waymo's" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48361133))
- Fleet could earn strong returns (2 comments): "It would pay for itself in about 3 years. Parking where I am at is about $50 a day." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49600479)) "cybercab will net them $50k per car per year" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46863691))
- Efficient per rider mile (2 comments): "has about three or four times the efficiency and like a fifth of the price by having smaller, two person vehicles" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49174544)) "Cybercab is more efficient per rider mile than most public transit systems." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49638046))
- In production and on roads (2 comments): "There are now 300 cyber cabs driving people around Austin" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50113669)) "the fact that they started production on the cybercab" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47897763))

## What people warn about

- Self-driving safety unproven (4 comments): "Sold and promised, doesn't exist yet. Tesla has a bad safety record in their on-street testing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47482311)) "they’re rolling it out before Tesla’s self-driving software has been proven to be safe" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49600865)) "they can't steer, hence why they have more accidents than humans per driven miles" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47120178))
- No lidar sensors (3 comments): "Obviously Tesla's solution only works if their vision-only strategy bears fruit." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45871624)) "if the cybercab is cheaper because it doesn't include the sensors needed to actually see the world around it, that's not great either" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49189355)) "Tesla could add Lidar to their models, but it would cost them an extra couple of years." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49176662))
- Remote supervision raises concerns (2 comments): "Attempting to remotely supervise a level 2 vehicle using using a satellite data link is eye popping to say the least." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49564781)) "is geofenced and if it's like their other vehicles has human observers on standby for remote control" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50236039))
- Price and promises not credible (3 comments): "Musk's claimed $20k price for the Cybercab is not credible until actually delivered" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45849851)) "This feels like a highly misleading claim that might technically be true" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47120782)) "is it just elons promises that are worth the same as his previous ones?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46449007))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Waymo](https://hackerapproved.com/p/waymo.md): 696 recommend
- [Tesla Robotaxi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tesla-robotaxi.md): 41 recommend
- [Waymo Driver](https://hackerapproved.com/p/waymo-driver.md): 23 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.tesla.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Tesla Cybercab", https://hackerapproved.com/p/tesla-cybercab/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).