Jeremy Clarkson Exposes Alarming Flaws During Tesla Cybercab Ride

The broadcaster recounts booking two Tesla robotaxis in Texas, including a Cybercab ride where he reported red-light runs and delayed stopping.

Tesla Cybercab Robotaxi

Photo by: Tesla

Brian Potter

By: Brian Potter

Nov 13, at 3:28am ET

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Jeremy Clarkson got into a Tesla Cybercab in Texas expecting a preview of the future. He got a ride he says he could not stop, in a car with no steering wheel and no pedals to grab.

The broadcaster booked two robotaxi rides for his Sunday Times column. Both went wrong in different ways.

The first car never moved. The second one reportedly ran red lights, braked for obstacles that were not there, and kept driving once it reached his destination.

What Jeremy Clarkson Says Happened In Texas

The Tesla Cybercab seen live

Tesla Cybercab Interior

Photo by: Motor1.com

Clarkson's first Cybercab stopped around the corner from his pickup point and sat there while its onboard assistant insisted it was already moving. A Tesla representative reportedly told him to cancel the ride and request a replacement vehicle.

The second car is where things got strange. It drove normally at first. Then it reportedly ran red lights and slammed the brakes for obstacles Clarkson says were not on the road. He sat with no steering wheel or pedals to intervene.

Clarkson wrote that he was genuinely worried for about 10 minutes during the ride, unable to do anything but watch. He also described a tense moment where the Cybercab struggled to respond to an autonomous shopping cart crossing its path.

"I liked Musk's bravado and thought the Cybercab looked the part, but I'd give it a miss if it ever showed up in London," Clarkson wrote, once the ride finally ended.

Why The Cybercab Reportedly Would Not Stop

Tesla Cybercab

Tesla Cybercab

Photo by: Tesla

The part of Clarkson's account that stands out most is what happened once the Cybercab reached its destination. It didn't stop. It reportedly kept going, telling him it was searching for a safe place to pull over. It then passed several spots Clarkson considered perfectly fine to stop.

It's not the first reported stumble for Tesla's robotaxi service. The Austin robotaxi fleet has already drawn scrutiny following a bollard crash, and regulators have opened a federal safety probe into the vehicle's behavior.

Tesla's robotaxi service uses both Model Y vehicles and Cybercabs. It has been operating in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa for months, with Fort Worth and San Antonio joining in early November as the company extends unsupervised and near round-the-clock service city by city.

Independent trackers that scrape Texas registry data estimate that in mid-November there were about 1,300 Tesla Robotaxi LLC vehicles registered in the state. Cybercab and Model Y counts are inferred from VIN patterns rather than official model totals.

What do you think?

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None of that registration data confirms how the fleet performs day to day. Clarkson's experience describes one passenger's ride.

Tesla has discussed eventually offering the two-seat Cybercab beyond its own robotaxi fleet but has not given a firm date for retail customer sales.