Tesla’s Cybercab moved from concept to public-road deployment in Austin this week, but the rollout was far quieter than the company’s usual product theater — and it was followed almost immediately by federal scrutiny. The Verge reports that Tesla officially launched the Cybercab at a private, closed-door event in Austin, Texas, with no livestream, no journalists and a short invite list made up largely of pro-Tesla content creators. TechCrunch separately reports that Tesla put the first production Cybercabs on Austin streets, making the launch a real deployment rather than another preview of Elon Musk’s long-promised driverless-car ambitions. The Cybercab is central to Musk’s push to frame Tesla around artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles and robotics. According to The Verge, Tesla has 45 Cybercabs registered with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, though it remains unclear how many of those vehicles will immediately be used for passenger trips. The Verge also reports that several vehicles were made available to Tesla influencers in Austin for content creation. The controlled format stood out. The Verge says some Tesla influencers had planned live programming around the event, only to end up pointing viewers to a webpage tracking Tesla robotaxis in Texas. Invitee Chuck Cook said, according to The Verge, that he signed a nondisclosure agreement and accepted an embargo barring posts until after the event ended. Some pro-Tesla accounts that were not invited criticized the handling on X. The launch also created an immediate regulatory question. TechCrunch reports that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation Friday morning into Tesla’s decision to deploy the Cybercab on public roads without a steering wheel or pedals. Federal vehicle safety rules currently require manual controls such as brake pedals, TechCrunch notes, though the Department of Transportation has proposed removing those requirements for vehicles designed to be driven autonomously. According to TechCrunch, NHTSA said Tesla told the agency it had self-certified the Cybercab as compliant with all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. Automakers traditionally self-certify compliance, but NHTSA said its investigation will examine the process and technical data Tesla relied on, including whether Tesla’s certification depended on treating certain federal standards as inapplicable to the Cybercab. The Verge reports that Tesla also launched a Robotaxi website with rider rules for the new vehicle, including a current ban on children under 13 riding in the Cybercab. The company posted videos showing the vehicle’s interior, crash-test claims and accessibility. The Verge described the accessibility video as confusing because it showed a wheelchair user getting up to fold and stow his own wheelchair. Scale remains a question. The Verge, citing Robotaxi Tracker, says Tesla now has 256 unsupervised autonomous vehicles operating across six cities with the Cybercabs included. It compares that with Alphabet’s Waymo, which The Verge says operates about 4,000 vehicles across 14 cities. Tesla has also spent the past year running a robotaxi service in Texas and Florida using modified Model Y vehicles, some with human safety drivers and some without, according to The Verge. The commercial path for Cybercab ownership is still not settled in the reporting. The Verge notes that Musk previously said the two-seat vehicle could eventually be sold, potentially at a price as low as $30,000, but Tesla has not said when it would go on sale. The company now has an online form for parties interested in future Robotaxi opportunities, including fleet purchases or mobility hubs and infrastructure. Who benefits: Tesla benefits if it can prove the Cybercab is compliant and safe enough to expand its Robotaxi service. The launch also gives Tesla supporters and prospective fleet partners a tangible vehicle to assess rather than another concept timeline. Who's exposed: Tesla is exposed to NHTSA’s review of its certification process and technical basis for deploying a vehicle without manual controls. Passengers and would-be operators also face uncertainty because the number of Cybercabs entering commercial service remains unclear.