Tesla can build the car faster than the driver

ON JULY 18TH a drone flew over the lots south of Gigafactory Texas and counted 245 Cybercabs, gold and steering-wheel-less, parked in rows. That count, logged by EVXL, a site that tracks the plant from the air, was more than double the number seen five weeks earlier. On Thursday, at an invitation-only event at the factory, Elon Musk will present the vehicle those rows were waiting to become: a two-seat robotaxi with no wheel, no pedals and no provision for a human to intervene, joining a fleet of modified Model Ys that has carried paying riders around Austin since June 2025. Last week an X user asked Mr Musk whether Tesla was about to flood the city with them. He replied, "Yes." As of Monday the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles listed 45.