The News: Close-up images confirm Tesla has installed the Cybertruck's distinctive squircle steering wheel inside Cybercab prototypes currently undergoing road testing.
Why It Matters: It reveals a deliberate hardware crossover between Tesla's existing lineup and its upcoming robotaxi fleet — and clarifies what these test units actually look like inside.
Source: @TeslaNewswire on X
The Squircle Wheel Has a Temporary Home
Fresh close-up images of Tesla Cybercab test prototypes have surfaced, and there's one immediately recognizable detail inside the cabin: the Cybertruck's signature squircle steering wheel. The flat-bottomed, rounded-square design — first introduced on the Cybertruck — is now confirmed to be the hardware Tesla is using in its Cybercab fleet during public road testing.
It's a striking visual, partly because the production Cybercab isn't supposed to have a steering wheel at all. The final robotaxi is explicitly designed to operate without any driver controls — no wheel, no pedals, no side mirrors. So why is it there? The answer is regulatory, not aesthetic.
Why Test Cybercabs Have Steering Wheels
According to Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy, Cybercabs equipped with steering wheels and pedals form a "remote controlled fleet" used strictly for engineering validation and to satisfy state and federal requirements. Current regulations in most U.S. jurisdictions mandate that vehicles undergoing public road testing must have a human override capability — hence the temporary wheel. These units are explicitly marked as not for sale.
Tesla's choice to use the Cybertruck's squircle wheel rather than a conventional round wheel is telling. It suggests Tesla is standardizing interior hardware components across its lineup where possible — a logical move for a company that relies heavily on shared parts to drive down manufacturing costs. The Cybercab already uses roughly 60% fewer structural components than a Model Y, so reusing proven hardware like the squircle wheel for test rigs fits that philosophy.
📊 Key Figures
| Metric | Value | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Production Cybercab steering wheel | None | Final unit is fully autonomous |
| Structural parts vs. Model Y | ~60% fewer | ~80 parts vs. ~200 |
| Target price | Under $30,000 | Confirmed by Tesla |
| First production unit off line | February 2026 | Gigafactory Texas, no wheel/pedals |
| Mass production target | April 2026 | Reaffirmed by Elon Musk |
| Expected battery / range | 35 kWh / ~200 mi | Inductive charging capable |
What the Production Cybercab Actually Looks Like Inside
Strip away the test hardware and the production Cybercab cabin is a fundamentally different space. With no driver's footwell, no steering column, and no pedal cluster, Tesla has been able to redesign the interior entirely around passenger comfort. Verified details include:
- A floor-track seat system that maximizes legroom — reportedly more than any other Tesla model, including the Model S and Model X
- Relocated window controls and USB-C charging ports optimized for rear-seat passengers
- Physical door-release and emergency stop buttons with Braille lettering
- No side mirrors — cameras handle all visibility functions
The first production unit without any driver controls rolled off the Gigafactory Texas line in February 2026. That vehicle represents what paying passengers will eventually sit in — not the squircle-equipped test mule captured in today's images.
🔭 The BASENOR Take
Timeline: Test prototypes active now → Mass production target April 2026 → Commercial robotaxi service to follow
Impact Level: Medium — confirms hardware choices and testing progress, but no changes to the production spec
Confidence: High — regulatory rationale for test-unit steering wheels is confirmed by Tesla VP Lars Moravy
Analysis: Don't let the squircle wheel distract you from the bigger picture. These test units are regulatory placeholders — the real story is that Tesla is actively running a fleet of Cybercabs on public roads right now, accumulating the real-world data miles needed to validate FSD for unsupervised commercial operation. The fact that they're reusing Cybertruck hardware for the test rigs is a minor footnote; what matters is the pace of that validation program as April 2026 approaches.
📰 Deep Dive
The squircle steering wheel has become one of the more polarizing design choices in Tesla's recent history. Cybertruck owners either love its futuristic geometry or find it impractical for daily driving. Seeing it reappear inside a Cybercab test prototype raises an interesting question: is Tesla deliberately building design continuity across its lineup, or is this purely a parts-bin decision driven by availability and cost? Almost certainly the latter — but the visual coherence is a side benefit Tesla's design team won't complain about.
More substantively, these images are a reminder of just how close the Cybercab program is to a critical inflection point. With mass production officially targeting April 2026 and the first production unit already confirmed off the line in February, the window between "test prototype with a borrowed steering wheel" and "fully autonomous robotaxi in commercial service" is narrowing fast. The regulatory groundwork matters enormously here: a Cybercab was recently spotted with a federal compliance sticker suggesting Tesla may not need an NHTSA exemption — which would otherwise cap production at 2,500 units annually. If that holds, the ramp could be far steeper than many analysts expect.
For existing Tesla owners, the Cybercab's development is worth tracking closely through our FSD coverage. The same autonomy stack powering these test vehicles is the foundation for every supervised FSD mile you're logging today. Every Cybercab test run is, in a real sense, also a data point for your own car's future capabilities.
