Autonomy, a company owned by vehicle subscription platform NextCar, has launched a new electric and zero-emissions vehicle subscription program with the Tesla Model 3.
Autonomy’s goal is the same as its parent company’s: provide a subscription-based program that combines a monthly car payment, insurance, and other applicable fees into one monthly payment. Drivers can order their vehicles and pick them up in less than 10 minutes by providing their driver’s license and a form of digital payment, Autonomy said in a press release.
The difference between Autonomy and NextCar is simply the powertrains. Autonomy will combine the NextCar subscription platform with the all-electric and sustainable powertrain of EVs. The Model 3 is the first vehicle to launch under the Autonomy brand, marking the start of the company’s newest fleet of vehicles with arguably the most popular in the electric segment.
“Electric vehicles have reached a tipping point, and it’s clear that the Tesla Model 3 is this generation’s Prius,” Scott Painter, founder and CEO of Autonomy, said. “Financial responsibility and the avoidance of debt is also at an inflection point and subscriptions have become a pervasive, sustainable business model and a cornerstone of modern digital life.”
The Tesla Model 3 subscription program through Autonomy will feature a month-to-month contract structure after a three-month minimum term. The entire subscription can be managed through Autonomy’s Smartphone App.
Scott Painter, co-founder and CEO of Autonomy (PRNewsfoto/Autonomy)
Autonomy will officially equip some low-mileage builds of the Model 3 when the program begins in the coming months. The subscription cost includes “routine maintenance and roadside assistance. Consumers have flexibility to customize their monthly payments to as low asย $550ย a month (with aย $5,500ย start fee) up toย $1,000ย per month (with a start fee as low asย $1,000). Aย $500 security deposit is required when the subscription is activated.”
Currently, Autonomy is only renting vehicles in California, but it said it will open in new markets soon. The company plans to expand rapidly, and California was its first choice due to the concentration of EVs in the market.
Painter said that the company’s name does not necessarily have anything to do with vehicle functionality, but instead the term’s application to everyday life. “Autonomy is a big idea, and whether it’s freedom from long-term debt, commitment, complication, confrontation, or fossil fuels, everyone can relate to the desire for more autonomy in life,” he said.
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Autonomy raised $83 million in debt and equity financing to support the launch of the new vehicle fleet.
The future of transportation is zero-emissions vehicles. At Autonomy, we are accelerating the shift toward sustainable mobility by giving consumers flexible access to electric vehicles at affordable monthly payments,” Georg Bauer, co-founder and president of Autonomy, stated. “Vehicle subscriptions reduce the barriers to adoption of electric vehicles, providing a low-commitment option with lower upfront costs. It is perfect for people who are interested in EVs but are not ready to make a long-term commitment due to concerns around cost or range anxiety.”
Iโd love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me atย joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitterย @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us atย tips@teslarati.com.
Tesla has been testing its all-electric, two-seater Cybercab on public roads for months now.
Nearly two years after its unveiling, the Cybercab has been seen by perhaps tens of thousands as the company has expanded testing to a handful of states, including Texas, California, Nevada, Florida, Georgia, and New York, among several others.
However, nobody has seen one like this quite yet.
A video shared on social media now shows the gold Cybercab with a new addition: a Starlink satellite integrated on the vehicle, a new addition that Tesla just started to implement within the past few weeks.
@lottaherm More cybercabs being spotted now with Starlink integrated ๐ #cybercab #tesla #elonmusk #houston #htx โฌ original sound – ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐น๐น๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ข๐๐น๐|๐
Just a week ago, Tesla announced that it had built its first Cybercab with Starlink integration and showed it off at Gigafactory Texas. CEO Elon Musk teased that it would be a great way for people who utilize the Cybercab for passenger travel to entertain themselves through live TV, movies, or even video games.
Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, said it is also a huge advantage for Tesla as it will enable constant connectivity between the company and the fleet of Cybercabs it has. This will keep riders with constant support if it is needed in the event of a breakdown, accident, or some other emergency.
Tesla’s reason for Starlink integration on Cybercab might surprise you
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It appears that this particular unit was spotted in Houston, Texas, a location where the company’s Robotaxi platform is already active. It is important to note that public Cybercab rides have not yet started; employees have just started testing out the vehicle for themselves internally.
Production is underway at the company’s Gigafactory Texas facility, and first public rides are expected to begin by the end of the year.
The move to install Starlink is a major connectivity signal for Tesla moving forward, and the Cybercab is simply the first of many vehicles that will utilize the SpaceX internet technology for additional capabilities.
Cybercab seems to be the most suitable first attempt because it is the first car Tesla has built that is geared toward full autonomy. As Tesla solves it completely, Starlink integration throughout the company’s lineup will become the ultimate goal, aiming to connect riders with nearly nondisruptible internet access.
Tesla is building its largest East Coast Supercharger in New York City, planning to bring a 64- to 68-stall station to Queens, New York.
It will end up being tied for the largest Supercharger on the East Coast with this number of stalls. The largest on the Eastern Seaboard is located in Halifax, North Carolina, and is also 68 stalls.
Tesla is currently building a new 64-stall Supercharger station in Queens, New York. This will be the biggest Supercharger station on the East Coast of the U.S.
It will also have two pull-through stalls for EVs with trailers. Thx for the pics @LetsCleanNYC. pic.twitter.com/CCo0dIoHin
โ Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 16, 2026
The location is also set to be fitted with two pull-through stalls for EVs with trailers. We’ve seen Tesla implement these types of parking spots at newer locations as EV ownership continues to expand to those who do more than simply drive their cars.
There are plenty of Superchargers in the New York City metro, but they are mostly located in boroughs outside of Manhattan. There are five Superchargers in various neighborhoods of Manhattan, but there are limited plugs; usually only four per location. There are plenty of Destination Chargers in the Big Apple, though.
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Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn have become popular locations for companies to build out charging infrastructure for those who live in the highly populated boroughs. There is simply much more real estate to build effective EV charging stations.
The Supercharger will be located in Maspeth, Queens, at 48-26 54th Road. Maspeth has I-495 running through it, so this will be a great location for Tesla owners to hop off the highway on their way to Long Island or to Manhattan to charge up before continuing their journey.
Tesla has done a really great job of expanding its charging footprint throughout the past several years, especially by building large-scale projects that cater to areas that have a high volume of traffic and are main routes of travel to major areas. Tesla is making an effort to make charging less stressful and more widely available in these concentrated regions.
News
SpaceX just launched a secret payload from California
SpaceX launched a classified Space Force mission from Vandenberg, revealing almost nothing about its payload.
SpaceX launched a classified Falcon 9 mission for the U.S. Space Force from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday night, and the government released almost nothing about what was on board. The mission, designated USSF-366, lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E with a window that opened at 9:52 p.m. ET and ran into the early hours of Sunday, according to SpaceX’s own mission page, which described the payload only as classified. SpaceX confirmed the launch on its X account and pointed viewers to a livestream that began roughly ten minutes before liftoff.
Watch Falcon 9 launch the USSF-366 mission from pad 4E in California https://t.co/FFEzeYOds1
โ SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 16, 2026
The lack of detail did not stop analysts from filling in the blanks. Independent tracking of the rocket’s stage drop zones matched the pattern SpaceX has used on previous Starlink Group 15 missions, according to reporting from Outer Space Today, which pointed to Starshield as the likely payload rather than a one off government satellite. Starshield is SpaceX’s national security product, a version of the Starlink satellite bus built to Pentagon specifications for earth observation, communications and hosted payloads. Unlike consumer Starlink, government agencies do not have to disclose what Starshield satellites are actually doing once they reach orbit.
USSF-366 is the latest entry in a steady flow of classified and semi classified work between SpaceX and the Space Force. The company picked up a $178.5 million task order in April to launch missile tracking satellites for the Space Development Agency, as Teslarati reported at the time, and followed that in July with a $1.6 billion award covering 18 more Falcon 9 missions from Vandenberg through the end of 2027, also detailed by Teslarati. Add those contracts up and SpaceX’s Pentagon business for 2026 alone tops $8 billion.
SpaceX scores another massive Pentagon deal to support military satellites
The Falcon 9 that flew Saturday landed back near the launch site, producing the sonic booms that have become routine for residents near Vandenberg. What is less routine is how little the public will likely ever learn about what the rocket carried. SpaceX and the Space Force have not confirmed the Starshield connection, and government satellite programs built on commercial buses rarely get identified beyond a mission number and a general orbit. For a company that live streams almost everything else it does, from Starship test flights to Optimus robot demos, USSF-366 is a reminder that some of SpaceX’s busiest work now happens entirely out of public view.
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Tesla starts testing its Starlink-integrated Cybercab on public roads
Tesla is building its largest Supercharger on the East Coast in New York City
