Tesla fan describes driving the Cybercab for the first time

• Elon Musk unveiled Tesla’s first robotaxi on Thursday.
• Tesla fan and visitor Matthew Donegan-Ryan drove in the new Cybercab.
• He said it was surprisingly smooth.

Elon Musk demonstrated Tesla’s robot taxi on Thursday evening – and one of the first people to ride it told Business Insider what it was like to take a ride in the so-called Cybercab.

Tesla fan and investor Matthew Donegan-Ryan attended the glittering launch on a movie lot at Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank, California, and said he was impressed by the ease with which the Cybercab overcame obstacles.

He described it as “much smoother” and less jerky than the latest version of Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” assisted driving software.

The Cybercab, Tesla’s first robotaxi, was unveiled alongside a 20-passenger Robovan. It has no steering wheel or pedals and is charged via wireless inductive charging.

Musk heralded the futuristic vehicle as a step toward an “age of plenty,” but the launch raised questions for Tesla about regulatory scrutiny and how exactly its attempt to challenge Uber with a ride-hailing company will work.

First impressions of Cybercab

Donegan-Ryan said the Cybercab is smaller than Tesla’s Model 3 and has three buttons inside – one to turn on the interior lights and two to raise the door windows.

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The only thing visible on the dashboard was a giant screen where participants could select one of several destinations on the Warner Bros. lot.

Early in the trip, the Cybercab frequently encountered obstacles such as cyclists and pedestrians crossing the street, but Donegan-Ryan said the vehicle handled these without issue.

“I was pleasantly surprised,” he said. “The cars responded flawlessly and all took slightly different paths. It was a bit like watching a Formula 1 race.”

Donegan-Ryan was also surprised at how few cameras the cybercab had.

He said the robotaxi, whose self-driving technology relies on computer vision, appeared to have the same camera layout as a Model Y or 3. He said he only saw an additional camera on the front bumper.

The Cybercab bears a stylistic similarity to another Tesla vehicle, the Cybertruck, and Donegan-Ryan said the similarity was particularly evident in person.

“All cybercabs on display were covered in titanium camouflage foil. When you felt the edges and curves, it felt like a Cybertruck,” he said.

Party atmosphere

The event was a glittering affair, with drone light shows, pumping music and Tesla’s humanoid Optimus robots serving drinks. It is unclear whether these robots were assisted by humans. When contacted by BI, Tesla did not respond to a request for comment on this point.

Donegan-Ryan said there was a festival atmosphere.

“Many employees were present at the event and they felt a real sense of euphoria. “They were all excited and pumped up,” he said.

The staff apparently mingled freely with the crowd. Donegan-Ryan told Business Insider that he spoke to Tesla’s chief designer Franz von Holzhausen and his vice president Lars Moravy – and that both told him that Tesla had no plans to release a version of the Cybercab with a steering wheel.

Cybercab’s reception has been mixed

Ultimately, Donegan-Ryan was impressed. He told BI that while he would not buy a two-seater cybercab as he has three children, he would consider one for his parents.

During the unveiling, Musk also said that the company plans to allow Tesla vehicle owners to rent cybercabs when they are not using them to be part of the Tesla ride-hailing network.

Donegan-Ryan said he might consider owning a cybercab “to operate it in the fleet to generate revenue.”

The unveiling of Tesla’s Robovan and Cybercab, which Musk said would cost less than $30,000 and enter production before 2027, failed to impress everyone.

Some Wall Street analysts expressed concern about the lack of details about Tesla’s business model and the absence of the cheaper electric vehicle the company plans to deliver next year, and Tesla’s shares fell as much as 10% in early trading on Friday.

“We believe last night will mark the turning point from Tesla as an electric vehicle manufacturer to a broader player in the AI/robotics/disruptive-tech mobility space,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note.

“That said, we strongly disagree with the notion that last night was a disappointment, as we would argue the opposite if we saw Cybercab with our own eyes and the massive improvements in Optimus that we interacted with throughout the evening,” he added.