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Home Sweet Home: Tesla discreetly places Cybertruck inside Giga Texas

Credit: Terafactory Texas | YouTube

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Tesla is continuing construction at Giga Texas, and it appears that it has discreetly placed a future resident of the facility on the second floor: the Tesla Cybertruck.

Spotted in a new drone video from Terafactory Texas, the Cybertruck has been placed upstairs at the facility as construction continues to roll on in the plant that is located just outside Austin city limits. Following a brief appearance at the factory, the Elon Musk-commanded Cybertruck appeared at the plant in mid-April to give employees and workers on site a sneak peek at what the all-electric truck looks like in real life. It seemed that Tesla had then taken the Cybertruck off of the Texas property and transported it to New York, where it made an appearance at the Tesla Showroom located in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan at 860 Washington Street.

Elon Musk shares update on SNL appearance, says everyone is being friendly

While it is not known if this is the same prototype that graced Giga Texas employees a month ago, or if it is the same Cybertruck that rolled through the streets of Manhattan last weekend, the Cybertruck seems to be getting acclimated with its future digs as the truck will be produced at the Giga Texas factory when production begins. With plans to begin limited production by the end of 2021, the Cybertruck will be one of the first all-electric pickups on the market, likely following the R1T from Rivian, which is slated for deliveries in the coming months.

Since the Cybertruck’s dedicated unveiling event in November 2019, Musk has made several comments regarding the design, production processes, and overall build of the all-electric pickup. The most recent modifications that Musk announced had to deal with the vehicle’s dimensions. After noting that an anxiety-filled entrance into the Boring Company tunnel in Hawthorne, California, gave him concerns, Musk indicated that the truck would be smaller, but only by a fraction.

He said to Joe Rogan on an episode of the comedian’s podcast:

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“That’s pretty much what it [the Cybertruck] will look like, with very small differences. You know, we adjusted the size a few percent. Like around 3% or smaller. You don’t want it to be a couple of inches too big for the tunnel.”

Additionally, Musk also indicated that the stainless steel alloy that is responsible for creating the truck’s “Exoskeleton” will also be subject to changes as new, more robust alloys are discovered. “We’re rapidly changing alloy constituents & forming methods, so traditional names like 304L will become more of an approximation,” Musk told Teslarati when commenting on an article regarding an upgraded Starship prototype in July 2020. Musk confirmed that the alloy changes would also come to the Cybertruck as well.

The Cybertruck was spotted on the second floor of the Giga Texas facility. Credit: Texas Terafactory | YouTube

The Cybertruck’s underside will also be manufactured with the use of an 8,000-tonne Giga Press from IDRA. Tesla uses the Giga Press to create single-piece castings of the Model Y crossover to increase structural rigidity and improve manufacturing efficiency.

While Cybertruck production is still several months away, Tesla has the truck stored at the facility that has been deemed the “Cybertruck factory” by some. Production of the Tri-Motor and Dual-Motor variants will begin first, with the Single-Motor configuration becoming available in late 2022 if all goes according to the company’s plan.

Check out Terafactory Texas’ video of the Cybertruck inside the factory below around the 7:10 mark.

https://youtu.be/3Qwp4cfsXpE

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla Cybercab is coming to Asia this month as US service officially begins

Tesla Asia says Cybercab will be on display in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai this month.

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Concept image of Tesla Cybercab in the streets of Hong Kong via Grok
Concept image of Tesla Cybercab in the streets of Hong Kong via Grok

Tesla’s Cybercab is heading to Asia. The official Tesla Asia account posted on X Thursday, inviting Cybercab fans to “Come experience the future of autonomy in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing & Shanghai.” The post went up within hours of Tesla’s own Cybercab milestone in Texas, where the company said Thursday it had begun offering rides in across Austin.

Exact dates and venues for the Asia tour haven’t been released yet, though Tesla Hong Kong replied to the announcement with “Cybercab will be on display in Hong Kong soon,” while Tesla Japan’s response pointed fans to a sign up page for updates. Neither post mentions test rides or a service area, and nothing so far suggests Tesla is launching Robotaxi operations in any of the four cities. Based on how Tesla has run past Cybercab tours, in Europe in late 2024 and at US shopping centers that same December, the Asia stops are almost certainly static displays at Tesla stores or public venues as a means to stimulate buzz for its future driverless ride-hailing service in the big cities.

The timing lines up with Tesla’s only prior Cybercab appearance in the region, a booth at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai last November, which Teslarati covered at the time. At that event, Tesla’s regional general manager for Shanghai framed the car as evidence of the company’s broader mission, a message Tesla has since formalized in its Master Plan Part IV, which states that “autonomous vehicles have the capacity to dramatically improve the affordability, availability and safety of transportation while reducing pollution, particularly in our increasingly dense global cities.” The same document is where Tesla lays out its “sustainable abundance” framing for Cybercab and Optimus alike, describing the two as the hardware behind an AI driven push to cut the cost of transportation and labor at scale.

Whether Cybercab actually operates as a robotaxi anywhere in Asia remains an open question, considering China has already pushed an autonomous ride-hailing market that’s run on homegrown players like Baidu’s Apollo Go and Pony AI. For now, the four city tour reads as a marketing push timed to Austin’s momentum.

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Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory

Tesla launched a $350 tailgate track and a $985 lockable Bed Gear Box for Cybertruck.

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Tesla Cybertruck construction site

Tesla’s Cybertruck team added two more items to the Tesla Shop, targeting job site crews and owners who use the truck bed for actual work rather than just showing it off. The official Cybertruck X account posted the Tailgate Utility Track and the Bed Gear Box within minutes of each other, part of a five item batch that also included a reflective jacket, a spray paint hat and an updated reflective tee.

The Tailgate Utility Track runs $350 and turns the folded down tailgate into another mounting surface. It’s a single aluminum track with a T-slot for sliding accessories and two L-track attachment points, plus two load stops included in the box. The pitch is straightforward: strap down oversized cargo, like lumber or a cooler, that hangs off the back of the bed without it sliding out mid-drive. It bolts onto the existing tailgate and works on every Cybertruck trim.

The Bed Gear Box costs $985 and is a different kind of accessory. It’s a lockable aluminum storage box, 55.78 inches long, 19.8 inches wide and 7.79 inches tall, that mounts to the bed’s L-track rails and comes with two internal bins for smaller items. According to Tesla, at just over 57 pounds empty, it’s meant to stay in place rather than come in and out with each trip, giving owners a factory-fit alternative to loose totes for tools, recovery gear or emergency supplies. Tesla’s listing notes that Long Range and Dual Motor AWD Cybertrucks need the L-Tracks accessory installed separately before the Gear Box will mount, since L-tracks come standard only on certain configurations.

Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory

Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory

Both accessories lean on the idea Tesla has been building toward since Elon Musk first described the Cybertruck’s third-party attachment strategy at the 2023 shareholder meeting, when he said the truck would ship with mounting points so outside companies, and Tesla itself, could keep adding gear without redesigning the bed. That’s the same L-track backbone underneath the tailgate shield and jumpseats Tesla launched last year, and the off-road armor package that arrived through the same X account in 2025.

Owners looking to round out the rest of the L-track ecosystem, cargo dividers, MOLLE panels, bed racks and similar gear, can find a wider range of options through our Cybertruck accessories collection.

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Tesla opens Cybercab rides to the public, with no steering wheel or pedals

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla Cybercab rides are officially open to the public in Austin, Texas, as the company confirmed on Thursday following its launch event that the two-seater would be available in the company’s Robotaxi fleet.

Cybercab is Tesla’s first vehicle completely void of any manual controls. It has no steering wheel and no pedals, and it will utilize Tesla’s Full Self-Driving fleet to operate. The first rides have already happened, as those at the event were able to hail a Cybercab to any location within the company’s geofence in Austin.

Tesla’s $25K car is the Cybercab with no steering wheel or pedals

The addition of Cybercab to the public Robotaxi fleet is a major statement in Tesla’s trek to launch fully autonomous driving. For years, critics have complained about the need for drivers to continuously supervise the vehicle.

With Cybercab, there are no manual controls in the cockpit other than to control the seat, the center screen, and the climate. The vehicle is fully geared toward being a living room on wheels in a sense: equipped with Starlink V5 satellites, CEO Elon Musk said the vehicle would enable 4K live video, gaming, and other entertainment options during travel.

Musk noted that Cybercab is “designed and built for maximally efficient autonomous operation.”

Tesla continues to push the envelope on autonomy, and over the next several months, the company could start selling Cybercab units to the public.

The company opened up a public interest form on its website to gauge demand, and many have already submitted requests to purchase a fleet of Cybercab units for their own personal ride-hailing side hustle.

Tesla hints its already prepping for Cybercab fleet orders

The launch of Cybercab in this area marks a major accomplishment for Tesla, as it also announced that it has reached 1 million unsupervised autonomous miles since launching driverless rides on the Robotaxi fleet.

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Things are moving along at a fine pace, and although we have waited for this for some time, the day has finally come when Tesla is offering self-driving rides of some kind to the public.

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