Tesla Offers Cybercab to Select Buyers at $29,990; Musk Says the $299 Monthly Fee Is Too High

Tesla’s first Cybercab for private owners comes with a monthly bill that Elon Musk says is too high.

The company began inviting “select customers” on Friday to order the Cybercab, the two-seater with no steering wheel or pedals, for personal use. The order page Tesla shared on X lists the car at $29,990 before taxes, plus an Autonomy Subscription of $299 a month and a $1,000 non-refundable deposit. The subscription box is checked by default, and the fine print reads: “Subscription and regular vehicle maintenance required to operate.” Estimated delivery is December, in Austin, Texas.

Musk weighed in about seven hours later. Replying early Saturday to YouTube reviewer Marques Brownlee, who had posted details of the invite-only order page, Musk wrote that the Cybercab “will be available nationwide, as we receive regulatory approval,” then added: “But the monthly fee is too high. Should match the cost of Tesla FSD and connectivity for other models, which is more like ~$115/month.” He did not say when, or whether, the fee would change.

The gap is large for a car at this price. At $299, a year of service costs $3,588, about 12% of the sticker price. At Musk’s figure it would be roughly $1,380. Either way, the business model is plain: the car does nothing without a recurring payment to Tesla, which makes software revenue part of every sale instead of an optional add-on.

Where the car can go is set by Tesla, too. Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s head of AI, said on X: “It’ll work unsupervised inside all the same geo locations as @robotaxi, just serving the owners’ needs.” That means the eight cities in Texas and Florida where Tesla runs its Robotaxi service, Electrek reported, and the invitation email warns: “Only available in supported service areas. Subscription required for operation.” Brownlee, in his post, said buyers must accept delivery in Texas and are limited to one vehicle each.

The subscription agreement is stricter still. Tesla has not published the full text on its official X accounts, but screenshots of the terms posted by an X user, summarized by TeslaNorth, show that owners can’t put the car to work on Tesla’s Robotaxi network, ride-hailing, delivery or rental platforms without Tesla’s authorization. The fee covers autonomous driving, connectivity, remote support and roadside help, along with tires, windshields and wipers. Owners still pay for insurance, registration, charging and parking. The agreement lets Tesla change the price with a month’s notice. It doesn’t list a price; the $299 figure appears on the order page.

Tesla has been working toward this date for a while. Lars Moravy, vice president of vehicle engineering, said last month that the company aimed to start selling Cybercabs to the public by the end of the year, Reuters reported. The car began carrying riders in Austin in September, when federal regulators also asked Tesla how it certified a vehicle without manual controls. Tesla answered the agency on Oct. 30, and the agency hasn’t ruled, Electrek reported.

Reuters noted that Tesla opened its unsupervised Robotaxi service in Austin in June 2025, added Dallas and Houston in April and Miami in July. Tesla estimates the first privately owned Cybercabs will arrive in Austin in December. The first month of service is included, so the first subscription charge would come a month after delivery, at whatever price Tesla has settled on by then.