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Tesla Cybertruck police cruiser gets official unveil, deploys this year

Credit: Unplugged Performance/UP.FIT

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After viewers got a glimpse of a Tesla Cybertruck police cruiser last week, Unplugged Performance has now officially unveiled the vehicle, as debuted this week by its UP.FIT government and fleet outfitting unit.

On Friday morning, Unplugged Performance officially launched its police cruiser-outfitted Cybertruck from UP.FIT, after it was teased in a brief video from the company last Friday. The vehicle includes police lights on top and surrounding the vehicle’s bumpers and sides. The company has also added the expected sirens, PA loudspeaker system, and upgraded radio and computer systems that feature specialized wiring and other proprietary integrations.

Tesla Cybertruck police cruiser designs made waves on the internet last year, but with the latest official release from Unplugged, police department customers will actually be able to get Cybertrucks outfitted for duty. UP says it expects to begin deploying the outfitted Cybertrucks this year.

“The UP.FIT Cybertruck Next-Gen Patrol vehicle represents a significant engineering leap into the future, and we’re excited to offer law enforcement agencies the future of policing,” says Unplugged Performance CEO Ben Schaffer in a statement to Teslarati. “We’ve been thrilled with the direct feedback from police departments that have participated in our Cybertruck development, and we look forward to deploying these complete UP.FIT vehicles to law enforcement agencies across the nation this year.”

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Credit: Unplugged Performance/UP.FIT. Bespoke images created for Unplugged Performance and/or BulletProof Automotive

Credit: Unplugged Performance/UP.FIT. Bespoke images created for Unplugged Performance and/or BulletProof Automotive

Credit: Unplugged Performance/UP.FIT. Bespoke images created for Unplugged Performance and/or BulletProof Automotive

Credit: Unplugged Performance/UP.FIT. Bespoke images created for Unplugged Performance and/or BulletProof Automotive

Credit: Unplugged Performance/UP.FIT. Bespoke images created for Unplugged Performance and/or BulletProof Automotive

Credit: Unplugged Performance/UP.FIT. Bespoke images created for Unplugged Performance and/or BulletProof Automotive

The company says it can customize the Cybertruck upgrades to an individual organization’s needs, either for tactical, military, or search and rescue missions. The design is also customizable in terms of offering space for prisoners, weapon or specialty tool storage, K9 units, or other upgraded vehicle options such as wheel and tire packages, braking, extreme off-road, and Starlink use.

UP.FIT has also outfitted Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y for a handful of police departments over the year. Recently, the company also debuted fully outfitted Model Y units for the Anaheim police department, following a similar deal with the South Pasadena police department last year.

Many police departments that have been piloting programs with electric vehicle (EV) cruisers over the past few years, and results have shown that they stand to save money with them when comparing the fuel and maintenance costs of gas cars. In February, Tesla itself highlighted this detail by claiming that its EVs could save police departments over $4,000 in police equipment.

The company is also well-known for being behind the Model S Plaid dubbed “Dark Helmet,” after being driven for multiple years by racecar driver Randy Pobst in Colorado’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Elon Musk encourages Tesla Cybertruck for police use

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What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Investor's Corner

SpaceX gets initial stock coverage from Tesla’s biggest bull

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SpaceX Starship V3 flight 12
SpaceX Starship V3 flight 12 (Credit: SpaceX)

Wedbush Securities is initiating stock coverage on SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX), marking the first comments on the company since it went public several weeks ago. Wedbush and its analyst handling coverage, Dan Ives, are widely bullish on fellow Musk company Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA).

Ives wrote his first note initiating coverage of SpaceX shares on Wednesday with a $190 price target and an ‘Outperform’ rating. The firm believes the company is well positioned off of its IPO because of its wide array of projects, including AI compute power and infrastructure, connectivity projects, and launches.

“We view SpaceX as one of the most differentiated assets within the tech market with a strong footprint across its three core markets, with Starlink driving success with connectivity,” Ives wrote, “Starship launches leading to a demand flywheel and increasing deal flow for its Colossus clusters.”

Elon Musk called it Epic: The full story of SpaceX’s Starship Flight 12

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Wedbush leans heavily on Starlink, which they say is the “profitability driver given the strength of its recurring revenue base of ~12 million subscribers as of June 5th.” Ives believes Starlink is still in the “early innings” of penetrating the global telecommunications and broadband market, as it only holds less than a 1 percent share. However, this number is sure to increase over time.

It also highlights the importance of Starship, which it says is an “essential layer” of SpaceX’s overall success. SpaceX developing and displaying the ability to reuse rockets is a major cost and reliability advantage “as it reduces the necessary hardware launch costs while generating a feedback loop for future flights to improve their launch flight rate without accelerating capex spend.”

Finally, SpaceX’s recent AI/Compute projects are also very elementary, Ives writes. It is worth mentioning Wedbush said its $190 price target is derived from a valuation forecast that sees the company yielding roughly $2.48 trillion of implied enterprise value.

There are also some factors that Wedbush did not take into account with its initial coverage. The firm wrote in the note:

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“We note that there is optional value coming from Starship’s accelerating scale towards sub-$200/kg unit economics, orbital data centers, and enterprise AI monetization as these factors could drive meaningful upside but these face major hurdles, so we do not take that into account with our valuation.”

SpaceX shares are down just over 2 percent today, trading at around $167 at the time of publication.

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Tesla expands massive safety feature worldwide in latest update

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has expanded the footprint of a massive safety feature worldwide with a recent Software Update labeled as 2026.20.6. The expansion of the “Blind Spot Warning While Parked” feature represents the more widespread availability of the feature, which aims to prevent “dooring.”

Dooring is when a driver or passenger opens a car door into the path of an oncoming road user, usually a cyclist or motorcyclist. It is among the most common types of cycling accidents, the League of American Bicyclists says.

For this reason, Tesla created a feature that warns occupants not to open the door because an object is approaching. The feature will sound a chime, and it will also delay the opening of the door to prevent an incident.

The release notes state (via Not a Tesla App):

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“If you attempt to open a door while an approaching object is detected in your blind spot (for example, a bicyclist approaching from behind) a chime sounds, and your door will not open upon initial button press. Wait a short time and press the button a second time to override the warning.”

Tesla initially rolled out this feature back in 2024 with the Model 3 “Highland.” However, it remained with the Model 3 exclusively for over a year; that was until Tesla added it to the Cybertruck this past Spring.

Now, it is making its way to the new Model Y, 2021 and newer Model S, and 2021 or newer Model X.

The prevention of dooring incidents could eliminate many injuries to cyclists, especially in an urban setting. Dooring accounts for 10-20 percent of bike-related crashes in major cities, and over 17,000 dooring-related incidents were treated in the U.S. over the course of a decade. These usually involve fractures, contusions, and head trauma.

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Tesla sends production Cybercab with no steering wheel, pedals to on-road testing

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla confirmed this morning that it has sent the first production units, manufactured with no steering wheel or pedals, to on-road testing in Austin, sharing video of the first rides with no human controls.

The lack of steering wheels and pedals in the Cybercab aligns with Tesla’s self-certification of Robotaxi as Level 4 SAE, a platform it plans to make widespread through internal vehicles and customer-owned cars that will operate and generate revenue for individuals.

The start of these engineering tests is a major signal for Tesla, which plans to bring driverless, wheel-less, and pedal-less Cybercabs to market in the coming months. With production already well underway at Gigafactory Texas, where the Cybercab is built, there is some inclination to believe the first public rides could happen sooner rather than later.

Tesla’s engineering tests will put the Cybercab in real-world scenarios, testing not only the hardware, but more importantly, the software that drives the car around Austin with nobody supervising it within the car.

This is perhaps the biggest part of the internal testing process, especially prior to allowing regular, everyday people to hail the Cybercab for an autonomous ride. These early rides serve as a true benchmark for Tesla: How many rides can it achieve safely? How many miles did it travel consecutively without needing an intervention? What scenarios challenge the Full Self-Driving suite the most?

The proper precautions have already been put into place as well, as Tesla released the First Responders Guide to Cybercab over the weekend, ensuring that emergency services have 24/7 access to Robotaxi Assistance, as well as other boundaries, such as Geofencing features that can be used to redirect autonomous vehicle traffic due to accidents, road closures, construction, or maintenance.

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Cybercab seems genuinely close to being added to the Robotaxi fleet in Austin, but Tesla has prioritized safety throughout this entire process. Therefore, we think it could be months before it truly starts giving rides to the public. People have been frustrated with this, but Robotaxi in Austin has a tremendous safety record so far, so the slow rollout has kept people safe and accidents to a minimum.

The most important thing is that Tesla continues to show consistent progress in the Cybercab’s ramp-up toward fleet addition. A few weeks back, we saw the EPA reward the Cybercab a Certificate of Conformity, allowing it to enter the stream of commerce. Then, we saw Tesla add decals, signaling that it was likely about to start testing it publicly. That has now happened.

The next big move will be the announcement of the first rides, so this Summer should be filled with anticipation.

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