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Future Tech

The Tesla Cybercab is on tour in Europe, and we’ve seen the future*

*In a shopping centre in West London. But perhaps all is not as it seems?

Published: 20 Nov 2024

The Tesla Cybercab is going on a European tour! Although, despite being an autonomous robotaxi, it hasn’t broken free from its overlords and set out on a self-guided gap year interrail trip… yet.

In fact, the Cybercab will just be on static display at the Tesla store in London Westfield shopping centre until 8 December, before it moves on (not under its own steam, sadly) to similar stores in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway.

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Of course, the Cybercab was first unveiled at Tesla’s ‘We, Robot’ event at the Warner Bros Studio lot in Los Angeles back in October, and TG was there to take a ride in the two-seat taxi of the future. Click these blue words for the full story and our first impressions.

At that event, Elon Musk claimed that full production would begin in 2026, with prices for private buyers starting at $30,000. Whether legislation will allow that to actually happen is another question.

But seeing the Cybercab in the flesh on UK shores left us with many questions. Firstly, will its promised wireless charging tech be something that finds its way into Teslas with steering wheels (or yokes)?

We know that Tesla submitted a patent application for wireless charging pads back in September, and those pads were even capable of bi-directional charging where excess power could be sent back to the grid. Pretty neat.

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“For now, we don’t really know [whether wireless charging will reach the Model 3 and Model Y]. It’s still something that’s in the preliminary stages of being developed,” a Tesla spokesperson told TG.

“It’s something that has been designed with the Cybercab platform in mind. Maybe it’s something that we could see elsewhere down the line, but we don’t really have anything confirmed.”

So, what about the styling? The Cybercab’s smooth lines and futuristic surfacing prove that the Cybertruck’s divisive design language can work on a smaller, curvier coupe/saloon car shape. The Model S hasn’t been properly updated since 2021, so how about a new Cyber saloon with silver and gold finishes?

As ever with Tesla, we’ll likely only get concrete answers to these questions when Musk pulls the wraps off a new car in front of adoring fans, but we wouldn’t be surprised if both of these came to fruition before the Cybercab turns a wheel in Europe. Watch this space.

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