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The Tesla Cybercab that launched this past weekend in Austin, Texas, has no steering wheel or pedals. Instead, the vehicle uses cameras and sensors to navigate and drive itself, similar to the technology behind Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which owners of more conventional Teslas can subscribe to for $99 per month.
While the Cybercab is currently the only Tesla without manual controls, one passenger discovered that the vehicle has a way to be operated manually despite lacking the traditional hardware for car control.
Matthew Skrzypczack was taking a ride in Austin over the holiday weekend when he noticed a virtual joystick on the vehicle’s screen. The joystick appeared to offer a way to control the Cybercab manually.
“When I got in the vehicle, the display was in a different configuration with a virtual joystick for manual driving,” Skrzypczack wrote on X. “I have a feeling I wasn’t supposed to see this… but I tried to manually drive the vehicle anyway!”
In the video, Skrzypczack closes the Cybercab’s doors, prompting the screen to display a message that reads, “Press and hold joystick.” When he tries to move the virtual joystick with his finger, the screen changes to “Swipe up or down to shift gears.”
The Cybercab doesn’t move, however, and Skrzypczack can’t determine which gear the vehicle is in. After failing to get the car moving and start his ride, he calls Tesla support.
It’s unclear why the virtual joystick appeared, but it may be part of an engineering or service mode available only to Tesla employees and Cybercab technicians. There’s no information about how the joystick is intended to work, though it seems likely that it’s designed to control the vehicle only at very low speeds in order to, say, reposition it within a Cybercab facility.
The video also shows a couple of frozen camera views pointed toward Tesla Superchargers. That could indicate the Cybercab was previously operated in the same mode while being positioned for charging.
In a separate X post, a user named @Serenity_Now247 filmed a Cybercab as it prepared to charge. One of the videos shows a Tesla employee parking the vehicle just short of the charger, leaving the cable unable to reach. After a few minutes, the employee manually moves the Cybercab closer so it can plug in and get some juice.
MotorTrend social media editor Jofel Tolosa was in Austin for the launch and didn’t experience any problems during his rides, but it’s still early days for the Tesla Cybercab and growing pains are to be expected with the service. Even if things remain relatively smooth, Tesla will need to resolve any issues quickly if it wants autonomous rides across Austin—and other locales as the Cyberfleet expands—to feel routine.
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