A man recently found himself stuck inside a Tesla Cybercab for 14 minutes as the driverless vehicle repeatedly drove in circles, prompting intervention from Tesla support. Naturally, he captured the entire episode on video and shared it online.
Robotaxi rider David Moss said that after the Tesla Cybercab spent seven minutes driving in loops circling the parking lot without locating an exit, Tesla support called, remotely stopped the autonomous vehicle, and required an additional seven minutes to restart the car’s software before he could finish his ride.
Should it have really been this difficult for the Tesla Cybercab? Let’s go to the video
Moss posted the entire 14-minute episode on his X account, and the Tesla Cybercab was, as he said, just driving around in circles for seven of those minutes. According to Moss, the vehicle just simply couldn’t figure out how to change course.
Whenever it encountered the road work, the Cybercab would just circle the parking lot and loop back around. It kept passing through the same opening, staying trapped in this odd loop.
He said that a nearby construction crew intervened, trying to assist the Cybercab by moving their vehicle to make more room for the Cybercab to maneuver. But it was useless, and Moss had to call Tesla assistance to get the car to stop.
When asked how a support person finally got the Cybercab moving in the correct direction, Moss stated that Tesla had restarted FSD and may have altered the route to get it going again.
Despite the frustrating delay, it actually could have been worse
On the plus side, David Moss at least finished his trip before it got dark (and wasn’t riding in a Waymo robotaxi). Because Tesla Cybercab service in Austin only runs until 11 p.m. these days.
Why is that an issue?
Because, as Elon Musk himself recently explained when announcing the Cybercab’s operating hours in Austin, “The main thing we are trying to solve is making sure that we do not run over pets when they are hard to see at night. Literally trying to avoid grey kittens on grey tarmac in the dark.”