Tesla Cybercabs used over Austin F1 weekend

Tesla’s driverless Cybercabs were used during the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix weekend in Austin, with the service area expanded to Circuit of the Americas and ride requests open until 1 a.m. Tesla has not disclosed how many rides were completed.

A photo quoted by Tesla’s head of AI software, Ashok Elluswamy, showed a long line of gold Cybercabs and Model Y Robotaxis on a road near the circuit. The Cybercab Spotter account, which logs sightings around Austin, said after the race that people were requesting Cybercabs to get home. The account counted 1,250 Cybercab sightings in Austin on Saturday, qualifying day. That is an unofficial estimate: sightings can count the same car more than once, and the total is not an official ride or fleet count. The previous high was 1,072 on 16 October.

The expanded service area was set up before the weekend. On 22 October, app screenshots posted by rider David Moss showed the Austin service area reaching towards the track, with ride requests open until 1 a.m. and a banner saying last call was 1 a.m., limited to nearby dropoffs. Austin rides had ended at 11 p.m. in early October and moved to midnight on 17 October. Some locations, including COTA Karting, appeared as “Service blocked”; one rider who took a Cybercab to the track on Friday said the dropoff was less than a 20-minute walk from the front gate.

The Texas automated vehicle registry listed 463 Cybercabs at midday Sunday, up from more than 300 Tesla claimed on 10 October. On that date, Elluswamy said Dallas is next for Cybercab.

Waymo’s Austin service, available through Uber, stops short of Circuit of the Americas, and Waymo did not announce race-day service.

Tesla has not said whether the expanded zone and 1 a.m. cutoff will remain after race weekend. On Tesla’s third-quarter earnings call, Elluswamy said 2 a.m. service is coming “pretty soon” and that Tesla plans to run Robotaxi around the clock before the end of the year. The company also aims to hand the first Cybercabs to customers before 2026 ends.