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Tesla’s Giga Texas completely solves the Cybertruck’s ‘Cowboy Problem’
Yesterday, Elon Musk posted a cryptic tweet asking the Twitterverse about the possibility of Tesla establishing a Giga Texas facility. The response was overwhelmingly positive, despite some Tesla supporters questioning the rationale behind the notion of investing in a state that has been practically hostile to the company. Yet Tesla’s upcoming lineup of vehicles, particularly its Cybertruck, the addition of Giga Texas to the company’s growing list of factories may very well be a godsend. It could, for one, address the Cybertruck’s “Cowboy Problem” in Texas.
Texas is a large market for pickup trucks. Pickups are so popular in the Lone Star state that the automotive auctioneering firm Mecum did not even bother including sedans and other cars in its auction in Houston last year. Texas accounts for about one of every six pickups sold in the United States. Considering that trucks are among the most popular vehicles in the country, this number is very substantial. This is a goldmine that disruptive all-electric companies like Tesla can tap into, provided their vehicles are embraced by consumers.
In a recent article, author David Freedman noted that real truck buyers primarily worship a vehicle’s specs and utility when considering their next purchase. This is the reason why workhorses such as the Ford F-150 have become such a juggernaut in the United States auto market, and in Texas in particular. Former GM executive Tony Posawatz, who was behind the Chevy Volt, highlighted this in a statement. “Truck buyers are more sophisticated than car buyers in what they’re looking for. They look at their truck as a tool,” he said.
Tesla and its Cybertruck team appear to be fully aware of this, as evidenced by the vehicle’s features and specs, many of which seemed to have been included following CEO Elon Musk’s brainstorming session with his followers on Twitter. From hauling capacity to sheer unadulterated power, the Cybertruck has it all. The vehicle even offers a range of over 500 miles per charge in its sub-$70,000 configuration, something that is yet to be matched by other upcoming EV truck makers like Rivian. The Cybertruck is designed to take an immense amount of punishment without flinching as well, thanks to its stainless steel exoskeleton.
Its controversial looks aside, the Cybertruck objectively has the features and specs that can make it a massive disruptor in the EV segment. Yet there are psychological barriers that work against the vehicle’s favor, and one of them may very well be Tesla’s reputation as a California-bred, Silicon Valley-based company that makes sleek, futuristic cars. Simply put, Tesla does not have the reputation of a car maker that can produce tough vehicles for work. Ford, GM, and other veteran automakers do, and they could be counting on this for their own upcoming electric trucks.
Gabriel Smart of Planet Ford in Houston, which primarily sells trucks, describes the automaker’s pitch for its F-150. “When someone comes in for a Ford truck, it’s because that’s what their buddy drives, it’s what their dad drives, it’s what their granddad drives. So that’s what they want to drive, too,” he said. Tesla, then, has a challenge ahead of it. The company would not only have to buck the stereotypes of electric vehicles with the Cybertruck; it would also have to prove to dedicated truck buyers that its all-electric pickup is a serious alternative to tried and tested vehicles such as the F-150.
One of the ways that the company can do this is to simply make the Cybertruck as the de facto electric vehicle of Texas by producing the truck right in the state itself. If Giga Texas does pan out, and if the facility ends up producing vehicles like the Cybertruck, it would be very difficult for Texas’ regulators and truck buyers to not support the vehicle. The Cybertruck is already compelling enough with its specs, features, and price alone. Add the fact that it is built using American labor at the heart of pickup country, and the vehicle may very well become the symbol of the US’ next-generation of trucking. This, ultimately, solves any possible “Cowboy Problem” Tesla may have with its all-electric pickup, and it may open up the state to more of the company’s vehicles as well.
Elon Musk noted during the fourth-quarter earnings call that the demand for the Cybertruck has been impressive so far, with the company getting enough orders to correspond to several years’ worth of production. “I have never seen actually such a level of demand as this — we’ve never seen anything like it basically. I think we will make as many as we can sell for many years. So — as many — we’ll sell as many as we can make, it’s going to be pretty nuts,” Musk said. And this is all before the Cybertruck can even tap into the heart of the US’ pickup market.
The Cybertruck is expected to enter the market next year. Tesla plans to start with the tri-motor AWD and dual motor AWD. The $39,990 single motor RWD Cybertruck, which undercuts competitors such as the Rivian R1T, is expected to start production in late 2022.
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Tesla Cybercabs take over Austin’s F1 weekend
Tesla Cybercabs swarmed Austin’s F1 Grand Prix as sightings hit a record during race weekend.
Tesla’s driverless Cybercabs used the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix in Austin as their biggest public stress test yet. On Sunday afternoon, Tesla head of AI software Ashok Elluswamy quoted a photo from X user Ben Steindl showing a long line of gold Cybercabs and Model Y Robotaxis stacked up on a road near Circuit of the Americas. “Robotaxis as far as the eye can see!” Elluswamy wrote. Steindl’s original post was more matter of fact: “@Tesla @robotaxi is busy for the Austin F1.”
The fleet also handled the trip home. The race started at 3 p.m. Central, and once it ended, Cybercab Spotter, an account that logs Cybercab sightings around Austin, posted that “People are requesting Cybercabs to get home.”
Robotaxis as far as the eye can see! 🤩
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) October 25, 2026
Tesla set this up days in advance without announcing it. Late on October 22, rider David Moss posted Robotaxi app screenshots showing the Austin service area wrapping around the track toward Elroy and FM 812, with ride requests open until 1 a.m. A banner in the app read “Last call is 1am · Limited to nearby dropoffs.” Austin rides ended at 11 p.m. as recently as early October, as Teslarati reported, before moving to midnight on October 17.
Not every rider got dropped at the gate. Early app searches showed spots like COTA Karting as “Service blocked,” and one rider who took a Cybercab to the track Friday said the rideshare area was less than a 20 minute walk from the front gate.
The weekend also produced a new activity record. Cybercab Spotter counted 1,250 Cybercab sightings in Austin on Saturday, qualifying day. The previous high was 1,072 on October 16. Sightings count the same car more than once, so they measure how busy the fleet is rather than how big it is. For size, the Texas automated vehicle registry listed 463 Cybercabs at midday Sunday, up from the 300+ Tesla claimed on October 10, when Elluswamy also said Dallas is next for Cybercab.
The track was out of reach for Tesla’s main rival. Waymo runs in Austin only through Uber, and its service area stops well short of COTA. Waymo did not announce any race day service.
Tesla has not said how many rides it gave to and from the circuit, or whether the expanded zone and 1 a.m. cutoff will stay after race weekend. On the third quarter earnings call, Elluswamy said 2 a.m. service is coming “pretty soon” and that Tesla plans to run Robotaxi around the clock before the end of the year. The company is also aiming to hand the first Cybercabs to customers before 2026 ends, which would put cars like these outside Tesla’s own fleet for the first time.
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Tesla makes good on its Cybercab promise in just two weeks
Tesla Cybercab riders can now pull up a rear camera view and darken the screen.
Tesla has given Cybercab passengers a way to see what is behind them, along with a way to turn the cabin screen off entirely.
Riders in Austin can now bring up a live rearview camera feed on the Cybercab’s center display in the middle of a trip. Austin rider Ethan McKanna spotted the change late Friday night, posting from a ride that “You can now open the camera to view what’s behind you in Cybercab!” His photo shows a strip of rear camera video across the top of the screen, with another Cybercab following on a bridge. Sawyer Merritt shared the image Saturday and wrote that it “sounds like” there is also a new quiet mode that darkens the entire screen for riders who want to relax, sleep, or avoid a bright display at night.
The camera view goes beyond the rear feed. Tesla UI software engineer Evan, who posts as @CarCoder, replied to McKanna with a tip: “You can also tap it to see more cameras, and swipe it up or down to hide and show.” Until now, the Cybercab only showed its rear and repeater feeds on the “Please Exit Safely” screen at the end of a ride, so passengers could check for cyclists and traffic before opening a door.
Quiet mode surfaced a day earlier. Austin rider Jackson Blatz posted a video Friday morning of the new Robotaxi interface in a Cybercab with the option. Tesla has not published release notes for either feature.
The rear camera view moved quickly from request to release. Earlier this month, Cybercab rider Dan Burkland asked Tesla to let passengers pull up the rear and repeater cameras whenever they want, “especially for peace of mind.” Evan answered “In development,” as Teslarati reported at the time. About two weeks later, riders have it.
The feature fills a gap created by the Cybercab’s design. With no steering wheel, no pedals, no mirrors and no rear window, a passenger has no natural way to glance behind the car. The eight exterior cameras that feed Tesla’s autonomy software were already on board, so the change only required software.
There is also an AI angle to how it was built. Yun-Ta Tsai, a senior staff engineer on Tesla’s AI team, quoted Merritt’s post and wrote that the “(human) camera view tuning is optimized with Grok and implements part of the algorithm by directly programming the fixed-function hardware, so I don’t even need to check the datasheet.” Tsai did not say which part of the algorithm Grok handled. Grok already plays a bigger role inside the vehicle, with Grok Bot now enabled across every Cybercab and the Model Y Robotaxi fleet after Tesla brought the agent into its cars in September.
The two features join a busy week of changes for riders in Austin, which also brought a redesigned Live Activity for iPhone and Apple Watch and live trip sharing. They also arrive as Tesla prepares the Cybercab for life outside its own fleet. On the third quarter earnings call, Lars Moravy said the company is aiming to deliver Cybercabs to customers before the end of 2026. Tesla has not said whether the camera view and quiet mode will also come to its Model Y Robotaxis.
Elon Musk
Tesla shows what Roadster drivers will see on screen before thruster activation
Tesla’s Roadster video reveals a fighter jet inspired cockpit with a 5,500 PSI thruster gauge.
Tesla has given future owners their clearest look yet at the cockpit of its next generation Roadster. In a 34 second video posted to X on Friday afternoon, the company walked through the car’s touchscreen with a caption: “Inspired by fighter jet cockpits, Roadster’s interface was designed around the pilot.”
The clip opens on a black screen with red graphics and a 3D wireframe of the car, which sits beside the Roadster’s squared off yoke. Tapping parts of the model brings up controls for the rear wing, including low drag and high downforce positions, along with a charging page with a charge limit bar and a small music player. A row of tabs along the bottom reads Home, Vehicle, Listen, Climate and Navigate.
Most of the video is spent in Track Mode. The dashboard shows a live circuit map, a list of session lap times, brake and motor temperatures, and pressure and temperature readouts for each tire. A setup page lets the driver pick Auto, Low Drag, High Downforce or Custom aero modes, adjust aero balance and brake balance, and switch stability and traction control off. Along the bottom, a status bar reads “Thruster · 5,500 PSI” next to a “Boost Ready” indicator.
That gauge ties the software to the hardware Tesla showed off near Waco, Texas on October 15. The Thrust and Rocket versions use cold gas thrusters fed by carbon overwrapped pressure vessels, and Tesla lists 0 to 60 mph times of under 0.9 seconds and under 0.59 seconds for them, as Teslarati detailed in its breakdown of the three Roadster configurations. The base Performance car relies on a fan and ground sealing system for grip, and the aero settings on screen match the active wings and suction setup covered in our look at how the Roadster generates downforce.
The Roadster layout is a departure from the rest of Tesla’s lineup. Instead of a map centered screen, the Roadster puts the car itself at the center of the home page, and Tesla’s Roadster page lists two smaller forward displays alongside the main touchscreen. Tesla has not said whether any of the Track Mode telemetry will make its way to the Model 3 Performance or other vehicles.
The interface could still change before deliveries. Elon Musk said at the event that Roadster production will begin in 2028, and Tesla says the flagship Rocket version is not approved for public road use. Reservations are open with a $50,000 payment, while Thrust is listed as a limited release and Rocket is invite only.
Those who want to see the car in person will get their first chance this weekend. The Roadster goes on display in the lobby of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles from October 24 to 27, according to Sawyer Merritt, the first time the public will be able to view it up close.
Tesla Cybercabs take over Austin’s F1 weekend
Tesla makes good on its Cybercab promise in just two weeks
