NHTSA gives Tesla until September 30 to answer Cybercab certification questions
The audit, opened the same week Tesla began charging fares for Cybercab rides in Austin, covers about 1,000 vehicles.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has told Tesla it must respond by September 30 to questions about how it certified the Cybercab, a two-seat robotaxi built without a steering wheel, pedals or mirrors.
The agency opened the inquiry, an Audit Query designated AQ26002, on September 3, according to Electrek. NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation is examining about 1,000 Cybercab vehicles. In a press release, the agency said it wants to review "the process and technical data on which Tesla relied when certifying the Cybercab" and will weigh "the extent to which Tesla's certification depended on determinations that certain FMVSS are inapplicable to the Cybercab," a reference to federal motor vehicle safety standards.
Tesla began charging fares for Cybercab rides in Austin, Texas, on the same day the audit opened, and said it planned to widen the service to more vehicles and locations, according to the Detroit News. The Austin fleet stood at 45 Cybercabs as of early September, per TopSpeed, and has kept running since the audit began; Tesla has not been ordered to halt the service.
NHTSA has run a similar process before. Amazon's Zoox self-certified its own steering-wheel-free robotaxi in 2022, and the agency opened a matching audit query the following year, TechCrunch reported. That review stretched over four years, during which Zoox recalled its entire 105-vehicle fleet and applied for a formal exemption from eight separate safety standards before winning commercial clearance on July 30, 2026, according to Tech Times.
The September 30 deadline lands close to Tesla's own Cybercab Launch Event on September 3, meaning the company will be fielding regulators' certification questions at the same time it is trying to hold investors' attention on the product. Morgan Stanley has called that launch a make-or-break event for the stock, and the audit adds a regulatory complication to a timeline Tesla has otherwise controlled.