Tesla Inc. has pitched its futuristic “Cybercab” as a vision for an autonomous future without pedals or a steering wheel. In fact, CEO Elon Musk told the world last week that the car would be unveiled next year, and it definitely wouldn’t have either.
However, in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, Tesla Chairwoman Robyn Denholm said the company could make some concessions and still install them in the car.
“If we have to have a steering wheel, it can have a steering wheel and pedals,” Denholm told the outlet.
While some investors welcomed the CEO’s decision early last year to prioritize bringing a fully autonomous car to market, others worried that it was a high-risk pursuit.
Federal regulations limit automakers to selling only a limited number of vehicles per year without standard controls like steering wheels and pedals, unless they get broader exemptions.
In Tesla’s case, that restriction would limit Cybercab’s use to small pilot fleets, far from the mass deployment the company has publicly sought. Cybercab’s compatibility with standard controls would open up a much larger production scale while still keeping Tesla on track for autonomous driving.
The reality is, under current regulations, Tesla won’t be able to make the Cybercab a mainstream hit without the proper safety controls. That means installing a steering wheel and pedals if it plans to sell more than 2,500 units per year and can muster up approval to do so legally.
Elon Musk first unveiled the Cybercab a year ago on a movie studio lot near Los Angeles. A few weeks after showing off prototypes without a steering wheel or pedals, the CEO became irritated by a question asked during an earnings call: When can investors expect Tesla to offer a cheaper car that isn’t designed to be used as a robotaxi?
“Having a regular $25K model is pointless,” – Musk said, referring to a price point he’d touted at least as far back as 2020. “It would be silly. Like, it would be completely at odds with what we believe.”
Denholm’s open intention to modify the Cybercab system suggests that Tesla may be more lenient than Musk suggested a year ago. This may be in part because regulators have been reluctant to change some long-standing safety standards, despite Musk’s pressure from Washington to do so.
The Cybercab was introduced in 2024 as a two-seater electric car designed exclusively for autonomous transportation, built on Tesla’s “unboxed” platform. At the launch, Tesla promised that it would have no mirrors, pedals, or steering wheel – a statement of complete autonomy.
Waymo, for example, deploys cars with steering wheels and a cautious, map-based autonomy system in defined geofencing zones, prioritizing regulatory certainty over scale.
Tesla, meanwhile, has taken a camera-only approach for large deployment areas. Adding traditional controls to the Cybercab could allow Tesla to start with larger volumes and then gradually add autonomy features as regulations change, following the more gradual deployment path already seen in the industry.
Since the path to robotaxi is still governed by regulations, a Cybercab with a steering wheel and pedals would more easily meet crash and equipment certification requirements, streamline the insurance process, and avoid the low-volume ceilings associated with fully autonomous vehicles.
“There’s precedent for Tesla pivoting in this regard” – Denholm said.
“The original “Model Y” was not going to have a steering wheel, or pedals,” – she said. “If we can’t sell something because it needs something, then we’ll work with regulators to work out what we need to do.”
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