Gigafactory Texas moves Cybercab from pilot to continuous production, ramping April volume

Tesla said on April 22 that it had prepared Gigafactory Texas lines for the start of Cybercab production as the company ramped its robotaxi program. (tesla.com) The statement appeared in Tesla’s first-quarter 2026 shareholder update, which said the company had “further prepared lines for start of production” of Cybercab, Megapack 3 and the Tesla Semi. (tesla.com) Tesla paired that manufacturing update with an operating one: the same filing said it launched unsupervised Robotaxi rides in Dallas and Houston in April. (tesla.com) Cybercab is the purpose-built vehicle Tesla unveiled in October 2024 as a two-seat electric car with no steering wheel or pedals. That design separates it from the Model Y vehicles Tesla has used in its current ride-hailing rollout. (petersen.org) (nhtsa.gov) That missing hardware creates a regulatory problem as well as a design one. In June 2025, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said manufacturers can seek Part 555 exemptions for vehicles that do not have traditional steering wheels, driver-operated brakes or rearview mirrors, with a cap of 2,500 vehicles a year. (nhtsa.gov) The agency also opened a defect investigation into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system in November 2024 and later sought more information about Tesla’s robotaxi plans, including fleet size, public launch timing, geofences and whether in-vehicle operators would remain present. (nhtsa.gov 1) (nhtsa.gov 2) Tesla’s own filings show the company had been aiming for a first-half 2026 Cybercab production start. In its January 28, 2026 update, Tesla said preparations in North America for Cybercab and Tesla Semi production ramps were both commencing in the first half of 2026. (tesla.com) The April update does not give a weekly production target, a factory output figure or a delivery date for public riders in Cybercabs. It says only that Tesla prepared the lines for start of production while continuing to build out robotaxi software and infrastructure. (tesla.com) So the factory milestone is real, but it is not the same thing as a broad public robotaxi launch in a steering-wheel-less Cybercab. Tesla has started the manufacturing step; the road-approval step still runs through federal regulators. (tesla.com) (nhtsa.gov)