The exterior of the Cybercab is also pretty minimalistic, with smooth, simple surfacing, full-width light bars at the front and rear, plus no back window or side mirrors. The Tesla also has a set of butterfly-style doors, and instead of a traditional alloy wheel design, it boasts blanked-off wheel discs with larger rear rims compared with the fronts. However, it’s not clear how many of these features on the prototype will make it to the production car.
What is the law on self-driving cars in the UK?
Full self-driving cars got a boost earlier this year when the UK government passed a bill called the Automated Vehicles Act. It essentially enables the introduction of fully autonomous vehicles to UK roads within the next couple of years – provided they “achieve a level of safety at least as high as careful and competent human drivers”.
Highlighting the Cybercab’s self-driving capability is the lack of a steering wheel inside. That could prove to be tricky for the car here in the UK, because the Automated Vehicles Act requires a person to give inputs to the car on occasion.
Many billions of pounds have been spent on autonomous vehicles by a wide array of manufacturers, but so far, due to legislation, we’ve yet to see a full self-driving car on UK roads. The technology is here, however. Most autonomous prototypes have been based on existing cars, such as Jaguar and Waymo’s I-Pace-derived creation back in 2018, and Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 test car being equipped with Level 4 technology.
The Tesla Cybercab’s most direct competitor is another two-seat robotaxi from Croatian start-up Verne, which was created by Mate Rimac of electric hypercar fame. The car is confirmed to be hitting the streets of Manchester in the UK within the next few years.
What will the Tesla Cybercab’s price be?
During the reveal of the car at Tesla’s ‘We, Robot’ event in California in 2024, CEO Elon Musk said “we expect it to be around $30,000”. That would make the Cybercab roughly £23,000 in the UK, although, as we’ve said, there are no firm plans to bring the Cybercab over here.
However, that’s not surprising, because Musk himself admitted during the same event that he tends to be “a little optimistic with timeframes,” and so far has only said that the Cybercar is expected to enter production “before 2027”.
In those locations where the Cybercab does launch, we’re told the car will be accessible to anyone via the Tesla app, and will be yours for as long as you need it – even a whole day if necessary.
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