Tesla Cybercab Spotted Testing: Elon Says 'It's Not Close'

Three Words. Nearly 5 Million Views.

Elon Musk posted just three words on Saturday evening — "It's not close" — alongside a link to footage of a Tesla Cybercab testing on public roads. The post has already racked up nearly 5 million views, over 9,300 likes, and 1,095 retweets. In the context of the attached Cybercab sighting, the message reads as a pointed statement about Tesla's competitive position in autonomous vehicle development.

What Was Spotted on the Road

The Cybercab unit caught on camera is a mirrorless prototype equipped with the vehicle's distinctive large wheel hubcaps — design elements consistent with what was shown at the 2024 unveiling. No side mirrors means the vehicle is relying entirely on its camera suite for lateral visibility, a significant real-world test of Tesla's vision-only approach.

This isn't a closed-track test. This is a Cybercab navigating public roads — a meaningful step forward from controlled environments.

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🔭 The BASENOR Take

The Cybercab's mirrorless design is the most telling detail in today's sighting. Removing side mirrors isn't just an aesthetic choice — it's a declaration that Tesla's camera-only vision system is mature enough to handle real-world driving without hardware redundancy. Every mile this prototype logs without mirrors is a data point in Tesla's case that its approach works.

Musk's "It's not close" comment, paired with this footage, is clearly directed at the broader autonomous vehicle field. Tesla's FSD stack — now running on Hardware 5 in the Cybercab — processes data from six cameras including two windshield-facing units and B-pillar cameras. The architecture is purpose-built for full autonomy, not retrofitted from a traditional vehicle platform.

The production story is equally compelling. The first Cybercab rolled off the line in mid-February, ahead of the originally anticipated April timeline. Volume production at Gigafactory Texas is still targeting April, but the early completion signals manufacturing readiness. Musk has been candid that initial production rates will be "agonizingly slow" as Tesla stress-tests its new "Unboxed" manufacturing process — which targets a 10-second cycle time per vehicle at full speed and uses roughly 60% fewer structural components than a Model Y. The slow ramp is intentional, not a setback.

For current Tesla owners, the Cybercab's development trajectory matters beyond just the vehicle itself. The FSD improvements being validated on Cybercab hardware will flow back into the broader Tesla fleet through software updates. The autonomous miles being accumulated now are training data for every Tesla on the road. Follow our FSD coverage for ongoing updates as the Cybercab's testing program expands.