Should you buy Cybercabs?
The fleet math Tesla hasn’t published. Every number sourced.
Run the numbersFleet unit economics
The financial engine is the product. A five-car robotaxi model with sliders you can actually defend. Defaults are a launch-market Base case, not Tesla guidance.
Inputs
Monthly P&L
| Per car | Fleet | |
|---|---|---|
| Paid miles | 2926 | 14630 |
| Total miles (incl. empty) | 3804 | 19019 |
| Gross bookings | $3,072 | $15,362 |
| Tesla network fee | -$922 | -$4,608 |
| FSD / software | -$150 | -$750 |
| Insurance | -$600 | -$3,000 |
| Depot retainer | -$550 | -$2,750 |
| Energy | -$100 | -$502 |
| Maintenance reserve | -$171 | -$856 |
| Misc | -$40 | -$200 |
| Operating profit | $539 | $2,695 |
| Depreciation | -$400 | -$2,000 |
| Economic profit | $139 | $695 |
- Cash in
- $157,500
- Debt service
- $0
- Cash-on-cash
- 21%
- Payback
- 58 mo
No debt. Full residual risk. Cleanest read of the operation.
- Cash in
- $37,500
- Debt service
- $2,520
- Cash-on-cash
- 6%
- Payback
- 214 mo
20% down, 9.5% APR, 60 months. Recommended comparison case.
- Cash in
- $7,500
- Debt service
- $3,877
- Cash-on-cash
- -189%
- Payback
- never
Zero down, 11% APR, 48 months. Original-thread leverage.
You just ran the same unit economics our fund runs. If the numbers make sense to you, let us walk you through the live Austin fleet and the terms as they stand today.
The four questions every dollar has to answer
This whole page is built to answer four questions in order. Each one has a home below. Tap a question to see what it means, then jump straight to where we answer it with numbers and graded evidence.
Claim & evidence ledger
Facts, forecasts, and unknowns are never blended. Each carries an evidence class (A1–E, M) and a confidence label.
Tesla began carrying paid public riders in the two-seat Cybercab (no steering wheel or pedals) in Austin, Texas on September 4, 2026, the day after its September 3 launch event. The vehicle is real and operating commercially.
Independent primary reporting (Forbes, Motor1, Slashdot, 2026-09-03/04). Confirms the product exists and operates; does NOT confirm owner economics, take rate, or retail purchase terms.
as of 2026-09-12
Tesla operates an official Robotaxi commercial-interest pathway referencing Cybercab fleet purchasing and mobility hubs/infrastructure.
as of 2026-09-12
Two Texas-record projects named “Tesla Center – Air Center Blvd Robotaxi” near Houston IAH (Bldg 1 ~28,293 sqft/~$915k; Bldg 2 ~12,006 sqft/~$450k; Oct–Dec 2026).
as of 2026-09-12
Austin 405 E. St. Elmo Rd Tesla project ~82,107 sqft, ~$2.117M, construction Sep 2026–Jan 2027.
Robotaxi car-wash interpretation is secondary/inferred, not primary.
as of 2026-09-12
EPA/NHTSA: 2026 Cybercab, Austin-built passenger car. 326V, ~146Ah, ~47.6kWh nominal, 163kW motor, FWD, ~219hp, ~3,113lb curb.
~418mi is a lab certification-test result, NOT the retail rated range.
as of 2026-09-12
Tesla disclosed installed annual Cybercab capacity above 125,000 units in Texas.
Installed capacity is NOT the same as current production rate.
as of 2026-09-12
Texas law is structurally compatible with a permitted TNC using automated vehicles supplied under contract by third parties.
Does not prove Tesla will offer third-party fleet contracts.
as of 2026-09-12
Current 2026 Tesla third-party Cybercab network fee.
Historical ~25–30% (2019) is a scenario anchor only. Model 10–40%.
as of 2026-09-12
Final Cybercab commercial purchase price.
Not published in official commercial terms. Gates the entire ROI model.
as of 2026-09-12
Who pays insurance in a third-party Cybercab fleet arrangement (Tesla, owner, or shared).
TX TNC: ~$1M aggregate/incident during a prearranged ride; 50/100/25 between rides.
as of 2026-09-12
NHTSA opened an audit (Sept 2026) of Tesla's self-certification that the Cybercab meets federal motor-vehicle safety standards written for human-driven cars.
Independent primary reporting (Reuters, AP, Sept 4, 2026). Regulatory risk to the fleet timeline; no case number or vehicle-count scope published yet.
as of 2026-09-12
About 45 Cybercabs were registered to Tesla's Robotaxi fleet in Texas motor-vehicle records as of August 2026.
Austin American-Statesman via TX MV records. Fleet is real but small; over 200 units were spotted at Giga Texas in July, so registrations lag production.
as of 2026-09-12
The production Cybercab charges only by DC fast-charging through a concealed NACS port; it does not support AC charging, so it cannot use residential Level 2 equipment.
Not a Tesla App (Sept 5, 2026). Breaks any depot/home model that assumed Level 2; wireless charging remains a planned fleet-hub feature, not shipping.
as of 2026-09-12
Tesla states the Cybercab is designed for a 500,000-mile (800,000 km) service life.
Tesla claim, not independently verified. First data point against 'useful vehicle mileage: critical unknown' — treat as a design target, not a measured result; it drives depreciation-per-mile in the ROI model.
as of 2026-09-12
As of Sept 2026 the Cybercab fleet runs FSD v15 (unsupervised) on a modified Hardware 4 — neither the software nor the hardware is available on consumer Teslas.
The Verge, Barron's, Tesla Oracle (2026). The autonomy stack is fleet-only; sharpens the HW3/HW4 consumer-obsolescence gap. FSD capability claims themselves remain contested and under federal review.
as of 2026-09-12
The Cybercab roof integrates a flush-mounted Starlink V5 antenna for connectivity (4K streaming, OTA updates, fleet management); it is not required for autonomous driving.
Electrek/Benzinga (Aug–Sept 2026). A fleet-ops and passenger-experience feature, not a driving dependency; relevant to connectivity cost and hub design, not to the autonomy case.
as of 2026-09-12
Where the capital can go
Eight ways to take exposure, from liquid TSLA equity to owning a full mobility hub. Tap any pathway for the rationale, capital intensity, and current status.
The vehicle, in motion
What you're actually investing behind. These are design-reveal and real-world clips of the Cybercab, treated as marketing / render (evidence class B2): they show intent and form, not verified price, network fee, or ROI.
Specifications
A1 · EPA + B1The hardware as filed and reported. Most figures trace to Tesla’s EPA filing (a primary regulatory document, class A1) surfaced through trade press; the rest are Tesla design claims. Specs describe the machine — they do not settle price, network fee, or ROI.
Range shown is the EPA-filing preliminary figure (~293 mi); a separate ~418 mi number circulating online is a lab certification-test result, not a rated retail range. Nothing here is a price or a return.
Front three-quarter, moving, production-look prototype in daylight traffic.
Passenger with luggage walks up, the robotaxi pickup the whole thesis rests on.
Rider on a video call while the car drives itself, the product is the freed time.
Parked on-street, aero wheel covers, the graffiti-script Cybercab wordmark.
Both butterfly doors open at a real highway stop, people, trucks, daylight.
Close on the illuminated Cybercab badge and interior light signature.
Top-down crash-test rig footage, engineering, not a marketing beauty shot.
Footage is class-B2 marketing throughout, never blended with the primary facts or the model. It answers “what is it?”, not “does it pay?”
Marketing materials
Downloadable one-pagers and decks. These are INFRATEK marketing documents, persuasive by design; the calculator and ledger above are the neutral, evidence-graded record.
Cybercab Investment Overview
One-page thesis: the opportunity, the unit economics, and the evidence discipline behind them.
Coming soonFleet Economics Model · Methodology
How the calculator works: every formula, every assumption, every evidence class.
Coming soonINFRATEK Capability Deck
Who we are, how we operate a robotaxi fleet, and why Austin.
Coming soonContact us
Evaluating the Cybercab opportunity? Let's talk. INFRATEK is based in Austin, the city where the Cybercab actually operates.