NHTSA opens one Cybercab deployment probe

NHTSA opened one investigation into Tesla’s decision to put its wheel-and-pedal-free Cybercab on Austin roads hours after launch, asking for the process and technical data behind the vehicle’s self-certification, TechCrunch reports from the agency’s AQ26002 docket. The precedent is not trivial: Zoox’s comparable exemption limited commercial fleet additions to 2,500 vehicles a year for two years, as the archive’s robotaxi exemption analysis explains. Robotaxi builders should treat self-certification as a launch input, not a launch guarantee, while NHTSA says existing manual-control standards remain in force.