Tesla has started selling its steering-wheel-free Cybercab to the public, inviting select customers to buy the two-seat robotaxi for $29,990 before taxes, according to Reuters. The catch is the monthly bill: the car only drives with a $299-a-month Autonomy Subscription, and it only works inside Tesla’s Robotaxi service areas for now.
The Tesla Cybercab is the cheapest vehicle the company has ever sold, but the headline price tells only half the story. Buyers must also pay a $1,000 non-refundable deposit to place an order, and Tesla says the subscription and regular maintenance are required for the car to operate at all. Without the subscription, the car simply will not go anywhere.
Where the Cybercab can actually drive
The offer is invitation-only and limited to Robotaxi zones in Texas and Florida, including Austin, Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth and San Antonio, plus Miami, Orlando and Tampa. Tesla says estimated delivery is December 2026 in Austin, Texas. Chief Executive Elon Musk said in a post on X that the offering would be available nationwide as Tesla receives regulatory approval.
The Cybercab will work unsupervised in all the same areas as the robotaxi service, Tesla’s head of artificial intelligence, Ashok Elluswamy, said in a separate post on X. Tesla launched its unsupervised robotaxi service in Austin in June 2025, expanded it to Dallas and Houston in April 2026, and rolled it out in Miami in July 2026.
Musk says the monthly fee is too high
Even Musk thinks the subscription costs too much. “The monthly fee is too high,” he wrote on X, adding that it should match the cost of Tesla Full Self Driving and connectivity for other models, which is about $115 a month. That would cut the running cost by more than half, though Tesla has not said when or whether the lower price will apply.
For buyers, the maths matters. At $299 a month, five years of subscriptions adds $17,940 to the $29,990 purchase price, before taxes, insurance and charging. At $115 a month, the same period costs $6,900. Until the fee falls, the Cybercab looks less like a cheap car and more like a car-shaped subscription. Anyone invited to buy should check whether their daily driving stays inside a supported zone before paying the deposit, because outside those areas the car is, for now, an expensive ornament. New car prices hit a record $51,109 in October, so a sub-$30,000 Tesla will tempt plenty of buyers, but the subscription is the real price tag.
