Tesla adds 32 Cybercabs in Texas as its robotaxi rollout finally scales up
binarybits · x · 2026-10-02
Timothy B. Lee, long a Tesla skeptic, writes in his new newsletter Understanding Robots that Tesla's robotaxi effort is genuinely scaling: 32 Cybercabs were added to the Texas fleet in recent days.
He rode 3 Waymos, 1 Zoox, and 1 Tesla driverless this week in San Francisco—all essentially flawless—but argues casual rides prove little: AV safety beyond humans requires large-scale data, like Waymo's 270M+ driverless miles through July 2026.
The piece also unpacks the chicken-and-egg problem facing new AV operators: you need massive deployment to prove safety, yet regulators want proof before allowing it.
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