For a while, everyone thought Tesla’s Cybercab—known by many an analyst as the Model 2—would be the brand’s affordable car to slot below the Model 3. Those hopes were dashed last year, when CEO Elon Musk declared a $25,000 Tesla would be “silly” and “pointless.”
Still, slowing demand and a need for more volume meant plans for cheaper cars went forward. Earlier this month, Tesla Model 3 and the Model Y Standard, two trims that remove many previously standard features to reach barely-lower price points.
I assumed these Standard models would be a cheap as Teslas get, but according to one executive, there’s still hope for the Cybercab, the company’s upcoming autonomous two-seater with butterfly doors, to undercut them in price.
The Cybercab is interesting for a lot of reasons, but its most important feature—or in this case, lack of feature—is that there is no steering wheel and no pedals. It was presented just over one year ago as a fully autonomous vehicle, with no need for any input from its occupants.
Robyn Denholm, chair of the board of directors at Tesla, revealed to Bloomberg that the company could pull an about-face if it means actually selling cars.
Tesla Inc. sees the forthcoming Cybercab as its long-promised more affordable electric vehicle — and it’s willing to make fundamental design changes to sell the car in high volumes.
In short, it’s willing to make it more like a normal vehicle that human drivers can control.
“If we have to have a steering wheel, it can have a steering wheel and pedals,” Robyn Denholm, the chair of Tesla’s board of directors, told Bloomberg News in an interview Tuesday.
The Cybercab is interesting for a lot of reasons, but its most important feature—or in this case, lack of feature—is that there is no steering wheel and no pedals. It was presented just over one year ago as a fully autonomous vehicle, with no need for any input from its occupants.
The problem with that is it’s not legal to sell a car to the public without those controls, according to the NHTSA’s Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). Tesla knows this, yet it went ahead and revealed the car without those features—probably because Musk thought he might be able to secure an exemption from the government. From Bloomberg:
Denholm’s stated openness to modifying the Cybercab — which is scheduled for volume production next year — suggests an evolution within Tesla over the past year. Regulators have been reluctant to budge on certain longstanding safety standards even despite Musk’s lobbying Washington to do so. The US, for example, requires cars to be equipped with a steering wheel and pedals.
Seeking exemptions from those rules can be a long and arduous process. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration didn’t act for more than two years on General Motors Co.’s attempt to get authorization for its purpose-built autonomous vehicle, the Cruise Origin. GM ended up scrapping plans for the Origin last year before shutting down Cruise altogether.
And as Bloomberg points out, even if Tesla somehow did secure an exemption, it still wouldn’t solve the company’s desire for more volume. Currently, the NHTSA only allows carmakers to deploy 2,500 autonomous cars without traditional controls. For a manufacturer that sold nearly 460,000 cars last year, that’d be a drop in the bucket.
This isn’t even the first time Tesla has done this exact script-flip. From Bloomberg:
“The original Model Y was not going to have a steering wheel, or pedals,” she said. “If we can’t sell something because it needs something, then we’ll work with regulators to work out what we need to do.”
I think the Cybercab will become a far more appealing vehicle if it came standard with controls, especially if it came at a price point lower than the Model 3. At its core, this car is a low-slung two-door hatchback with butterfly doors—it’s hard not to appreciate that as an enthusiast. Hell, if Tesla is willing to add physical controls, it might as well follow The Bishop’s suggestions and throw in a simulated manual gearbox while it’s in there. It’s the least the company can do for years of Roadster 2.0 delays.
Top graphic images: Tesla
If it’s a 2 seater, at least make it a convertible.
Newport Convertible can at make it happen aftermarket, they’ve already cut the tops off of some Model Ses
Everything is by wire so I don’t see why it would be a big issue to add a steering wheel and pedals. They could probably even make it really complicated where they recess into the dash. It should be significantly cheaper then the 500e new. Price was a huge factor why the 500e didn’t do so well. I suspect the 500e will do well with lease returns for city drivers.
Are accelerator and brake PEDALS required or just actuation for them?
Like you say, with drive by wire it can all go in the steering wheel similar to paraplegic hand controls for existing cars.
I have an electric go kart that’s set up like that.
When JonnyCab crashes the Cybercab – The Yoke will be on you.
The problem with this is that it’s only a two seater. As a cab that doesn’t make sense. And as a volume seller it also doesn’t make sense. I’m sure they’ll sell some of them, particularly if they lean into the “sporty” image of two seat coupes, but they won’t see numbers anywhere remotely near their Model 3/Y sales. It’s the same problem the Cybertruck had. Too expensive, not practical, and no mass appeal. And for Tesla, a mountain of money spent developing something only a small amount of people will actually buy.
I bring up mass market appeal, because that’s what Tesla needs right now. Once again, instead of developing something fresh that will sell in volume numbers, they’ve built one of Elon’s fever dreams. And I genuinely don’t see why on earth you’d build a cab and limit it to two seats, even if you are expecting to have no driver controls. It seems like a strange self-imposed limitation.
To be clear, I’m not saying this would be a bad car. It could be a great car! For all the people out there who want a car like this, I hope it is a good car! I like the idea of a small, sporty EV. But there’s lots of great two seat coupes out there, they just don’t sell a ton of them because they’re a niche product. And again, Tesla needs to think about the future of their existing lineup before adding another niche product.
They can always market it as a cheap, economical commuter car for going to/from work or just running out to do some shopping, have a Cybertruck or Model 3 at home as the family car, run errands in the little Cybercab
I could see that! I think it really depends on how they price it. If it’s not substantially cheaper than a Model 3, there isn’t much reason to buy one. The problem is that in the US people want their car to be capable of things they’ll never use it for, and I think the two seat thing really limits the appeal. But if they price it right they could sell it to commuters and people who want a quick, small EV for the fun factor.
I think Tesla has already carved out a good niche of people who are OK with buying vehicles that only suit most of their needs instead of all possible needs that could potentially come up, they know how to handle those sorts of customers. Hell, they have managed to sell over 60,000 Cybertrucks, and I have no idea who or what those are supposed to be for
As someone who is ready to stop burning dead dinosaurs and has my name on the list at my dealer for a (probably not coming or affordable) electric Cayman, I would absolutely be in the market for this! And I say that as someone who doesn’t want to give Elon a damn cent. Any chance someone at Tesla is paying attention?
No
An affordably priced RWD 2-seat hatch would be a nice shot in the arm of an increasingly boring and homogenized new vehicle market, that its electric is almost beside the point, but would likely also guarantee that it will be pretty fast
Also, it really isn’t a bad looking vehicle, its more in keeping with the S and 3’s design language, and they are reasonably handsome sedans