Tesla Invites Select Buyers to Order Cybercab at $29,990

Tesla's cheapest car comes with a monthly bill that never ends. On November 13, 2026, the company's Robotaxi account announced that select customers were being invited to purchase the Cybercab — the two-seat, steering-wheel-free, pedal-free car built for its robotaxi fleet — for personal use. Reuters reported the invitation the next day. It isn't a public sale. There's no open order page, and Tesla hasn't said how the invited buyers were chosen.

The headline numbers are simple. The estimated price is $29,990 before taxes, the lowest sticker Tesla has ever put on a vehicle, with a $1,000 non-refundable deposit due at order and delivery estimated for December 2026 in Austin, Texas. Buyers can also choose delivery in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio or Fort Worth. Then the terms start, and they don't stop.

The largest one is the Autonomy Subscription, listed at $299 a month with the first month included. The order agreements are blunt about what it buys: operation. Without an active subscription, the Cybercab will not operate at all. At $299 a month, the subscription adds $3,588 a year to the cost of a car that cost $29,990 — a second purchase price roughly every eight years, paid in installments, for the ability to use the first one.

Where the car can go is also Tesla's decision. Personal Cybercabs work only inside the company's enabled Robotaxi geofences and supported service areas, which Tesla can expand, shrink or alter. Tesla's head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, said the cars will work unsupervised in the same locations as the robotaxi service, serving their owners' needs. CEO Elon Musk said the offering will reach nationwide availability as regulatory approvals arrive — and, in the same night's posts, conceded the subscription price is too high, saying it should match the roughly $115 a month that Full Self-Driving and Premium Connectivity cost together.

The rest of the fine print keeps the leash short. Use is personal and non-commercial: ride-hailing, delivery or rental needs separate written authorization. Unauthorized modifications, down to wraps, window tint and wheel changes, are barred. Resale requires written permission, with contractual damages of at least $50,000 for an unauthorized sale, and Tesla reserves repurchase rights. The touchscreen's manual controls move the car at about 2 mph for short distances and aren't for public roads. Owners still carry insurance, registration, charging and cleaning, while the subscription covers items such as tires, windshields, filters and camera cleaning.

Read together, the terms describe a new category of ownership. The buyer holds the title, the deposit risk and the insurance bill. Tesla holds the map, the software, the resale market and the off switch. Whether that's a fair trade depends on the one comparison Musk himself invited: at $115 a month, the Cybercab is a cheap autonomous car with a service plan. At $299, it's a $29,990 down payment on a rental.