- Tesla’s first ‘Cybercab’ rolls off the production line
- But his Robotaxi operation is collapsing at an alarming rate.
- In comparison, human drivers are safer
Tesla has been celebrating a milestone this week, as the first production Cybercab rolled off the production line at its Gigafactory Texas facility.
The gold-hued, highly autonomous machine eliminates the conventional steering wheel and pedals, meaning it relies entirely on software to navigate planned routes in busy cities across the United States.
But despite the company’s messages about Cybercab won’t officially start until April of this year, according to Electrek.
What’s more, Tesla has faced numerous obstacles with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) simply obtaining intellectual property rights to the name alone.
That means Cybercab may not actually be called ‘Cybercab’. Even more concerning is new evidence showing that Tesla’s current Robotaxi fleet (you know, the one with a real driver available in case something goes wrong) recently reported five new accident incidents in Austin, Texas.
First Cybercab off the production line at Giga Texas pic.twitter.com/kY8vCqtrCAFebruary 17, 2026
This brings the total number of incidents to 14 since the service launched in June 2025, which, according to Tesla’s own benchmarking, means its Robotaxi fleet is experiencing an accident every 57,000 miles, according to Electrek.
Compared to data from human drivers, who experience one minor collision every 229,000 miles and one major collision every 699,000 miles in North America, Tesla’s Robotaxi service is experiencing an incident four times as often.
Perhaps even more concerning is the fact that a report submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which closely follows all autonomous vehicle projects, shows that a July 2025 accident went from “property damage only” to “minor with hospitalization.”
Other archived Tesla incidents include a collision with a stationary object at 17 mph while the vehicle was driving straight, a collision with a bus while the Tesla was stationary, a collision with a heavy truck at 4 mph, plus two separate incidents in which the Tesla backed into objects (one into a pole or tree at 1 mph and another into a stationary object at 2 mph), according to Electrek.
All of this reportedly happened during daylight hours and in good weather conditions, raising even more question marks over Tesla’s decision to tackle advanced levels of autonomous driving without LiDAR and other sensors, rather than relying on cameras.
Run before walking
Although all of these incidents (thankfully) appear to be relatively minor collisions, the accident data presented to NHTSA is concerning. Tesla is predicted to only have about 42 Robotaxis in relatively sporadic operation around Austin, but they are crashing at a worse rate than human drivers.
What’s more, Tesla is one of the only self-driving taxi services that redacts all accident information under the guise of “confidential business information.” This means it is impossible to see who or what was at fault during the incident, whether it be Tesla’s self-driving systems or the safety driver’s failure to react in time.
By comparison, Waymo has reported 51 incidents in Austin alone over a similar time period. But at last count, the company had driven 6.337 million fully autonomous miles in Austin, Texas, since launching the service in March, according to the American statesman from Austin.
Tesla is predicted to have traveled 800,000 cumulative miles… with a safety driver at the helm or a chase car in position for safety reasons. In other words, say hello to that golden ‘Cybercab’ at your own risk.
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