Cybercab completes unsupervised autonomous figure-8 drives at Gigafactory Texas

Tesla’s Cybercab is now doing more than rolling off an assembly line. Videos posted on X on May 31 showed the two-seat vehicle completing unsupervised figure-8 maneuvers inside Gigafactory Texas and making longer trips from the production line to a depot area on the site. The footage added to Tesla’s April disclosure that Cybercabs were already driving themselves off the line at the Austin-area factory. The latest clips surfaced days after Texas began enforcing a new commercial automated-vehicle authorization regime on May 28. ### What exactly did the new videos show? X posts circulated on May 31 showing Cybercabs moving without a visible human driver at Gigafactory Texas, including repeated figure-8 runs and a longer trip described in social posts as a roughly two-mile drive from the line to a depot area. The clips were posted by Tesla-focused accounts rather than through a detailed company statement, and Tesla did not publish route data or a technical readout alongside them. Tesla had already shown a Cybercab driving itself off the Gigafactory Texas line in a company video posted in April. Teslarati, citing that Tesla video, reported that the vehicle navigated from the factory floor through an internal tunnel and into a holding lot, while Elon Musk said on X in February that the first production Cybercab had been built at the plant. ### Did Texas law just change in a way that matters here? May 28 is the key date in Texas. The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles says Senate Bill 2807 became enforceable that day for commercial automated-vehicle operations, requiring companies to hold an active state authorization to operate vehicles controlled by automated driving systems on Texas roads. The law covers vehicles capable of Level 4 or Level 5 automation. (teslarati.com) Texas DMV says the authorization applies to commercial activity on Texas roads, defined as transporting property or passengers in furtherance of a commercial enterprise without a human driver. That means the state now has an authorization system for on-road commercial service, rather than a no-approval framework. ### Has Tesla actually secured state authorization? Tesla has 42 automated vehicles authorized for driverless ride-hailing in Texas, according to records published through the state system on May 28 and reported by CNBC. (txdmv.gov) The same records showed Waymo with 577 authorized robotaxis in Texas, AV Ride with 317 and Zoox with 35. CNBC reported that the new Texas law requires operators including Tesla to self-certify that their vehicles are Level 4 autonomous under SAE standards. A Tesla-focused outlet, Not a Tesla App, separately reported on May 29 that Tesla self-certified its Robotaxi software as SAE Level 4 compliant on the day the law took effect. Tesla did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on how it reached that certification. (cnbc.com) ### Does factory-site driving mean public robotaxi service is expanding? Gigafactory Texas footage does not by itself show a wider public rollout. The videos indicate Tesla is using unsupervised vehicle movement in a controlled production environment, but Texas DMV’s rules distinguish commercial operation on public roads from activity on private factory property. Austin remains Tesla’s main public robotaxi market in Texas. (cnbc.com) CNBC reported that Tesla has operated a Robotaxi-branded service in Texas since June 2025 and that its Austin fleet logged 17 known incidents between July 2025 and April 2026, all while human safety supervisors were on board. ### What does this say about Cybercab production? (txdmv.gov) April was the month Tesla shifted Cybercab into volume production at Gigafactory Texas, according to Teslarati’s report on Tesla’s own factory video. That report said the line was being prepared for hundreds of units per week and that about 60 units had been seen on the campus earlier in April. (cnbc.com) A separate analyst projection circulating on X put a conservative ramp at about 200 Cybercabs per day by the end of September. Tesla has not publicly confirmed that figure in a filing or formal production guidance. The next hard datapoints are likely to come from additional Tesla videos, state authorization records and any production commentary on Tesla’s next earnings call. (teslarati.com)