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Elon Musk said on X that Tesla will stop making the Cybertruck next year and repurpose the factory space to build more Cybercab robotaxis. The angular EV, launched in late 2023 with Musk's prediction of 250,000 annual sales, has sold only tens of thousands of units over three years.
Elon Musk said on X that Tesla will wind down Cybertruck production at its Austin, Texas Gigafactory around mid-2026, freeing up capacity for increased Cybercab production. That plant is the only Tesla facility equipped to build the Cybertruck, and Musk did not say whether production would move elsewhere. Cumulative Cybertruck deliveries are estimated at roughly 70,000 since its 2023 launch, far below Musk's earlier forecast of 250,000 annual sales.
Rivian plans to roll out a point-to-point hands-free driving feature to employees in 2026 and to customers in 2027, followed by a robotaxi launch with Uber in 2028. Rivian finance VP Derek Mulvey called autonomy a key product differentiator and long-term value driver during an earnings call. The company's R2 vehicle has meanwhile become Rivian's best-selling model by volume.
Waymo announced that its next robotaxi will be a purpose-built Toyota bZ4X, assembled entirely at Toyota's Takaoka plant in Japan with Waymo's self-driving sensors and computers installed during manufacturing rather than added afterward. Testing and validation will begin in Japan next year, with the vehicles later rolling out to the UK and other international markets.
Waymo and Toyota announced a partnership under which Toyota will manufacture 2027 bZ4X electric vehicles fitted with Waymo's self-driving system at its Takaoka plant in Japan. Testing will begin in Japan next year, with plans to extend the right-hand-drive vehicles to the U.K., where Waymo has been testing Jaguar I-Pace vehicles in London ahead of a planned robotaxi launch.
Alphabet's Other Bets segment, which includes Waymo, posted $372 million in third-quarter revenue, just 0.3% of total company sales, while its operating loss grew to $2.05 billion from $1.43 billion a year earlier. CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted Waymo's growth to 15 U.S. cities plus new service in San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa, with planned expansion into Canada, Germany, Singapore and Spain.
Elon Musk told Tesla shareholders he had already said all he would on a possible SpaceX-Tesla merger, and Tesla's investor relations chief said executives would not address the topic. This follows Musk's comments a day earlier on SpaceX's earnings call, where he said both companies had formed special committees to explore a deal and that he personally favored it. Tesla's own results showed declining auto and energy revenue, with Tesla shares down 3% and SpaceX down 9% the day after Musk's remarks.
Ride-hailing app inDrive has signed a memorandum of understanding with Chinese autonomous driving firm Pony.ai and Nvidia to test robotaxis in Kazakhstan's capital Astana starting in the first half of 2027. Pony.ai would supply its Gen-7 vehicles through inDrive's app, with safety operators onboard initially before moving toward fully driverless rides, while Nvidia would provide its Hyperion and Halos AI and safety systems.
Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja said on the company's Q3 earnings call that its Cybercab service will launch in Dallas next month and expand to additional cities by year-end, with sales to fleet operators also starting by the end of 2025. Tesla currently runs robotaxi versions of its Model Y in Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando and Tampa, while CEO Elon Musk said the robotaxi business won't meaningfully affect financials until mid-2027.
Tesla's third-quarter results topped estimates but shares fell after lower average car prices, a battery supply crunch, and Elon Musk's comment that Robotaxi expansion won't accelerate this quarter. Meta initially rallied on a sales beat but turned negative in premarket trading, while separately offering Mark Zuckerberg a new stock class tied to an eight-year California residency commitment. Broader futures declined alongside chip stocks as Asian and European markets also traded lower.
Tesla VP of engineering Lars Moravy said during the company's Q3 earnings call that it aims to deliver Cybercabs to customers by the end of 2026, starting with a small rollout to entities able to help build its robotaxi network. Elon Musk said most Cybercabs will remain Tesla-owned for its own ride-hailing operations, while AI Director Ashok Elluswamy said Unsupervised Full Self-Driving could be enabled on early customer vehicles around Q2 2027.
During Tesla's Q3 earnings call, VP of Autonomous Driving Ashok Elluswamy said the company aims to let some Model Y owners enroll their vehicles in the Robotaxi network by around the second quarter of 2027. The plan requires the V15 software update and integration into Tesla's geofenced service areas and fleet-management system before private cars could earn fares.