Breaking news: A Level 2+ assistance-equipped vehicle with no human supervision has crashed. Who woulda thought?
Apparently not Tesla or its followers, who believe that the Cybercab is a completely safe idea. For the rest of us, it’s too bad that this crash won’t be a wake-up call for these followers. I mean, these are the same people who email me to say the Tesla Roadster with rockets will be on the road in a few years.
And honestly, I truly wish I was just a hater. That’d be a better fate than being on the same road as unsupervised Level 2+ vehicles.
Tesla reports Cybercab crash
Tesla has reported the first-ever Cybercab crash to federal safety regulators just days after a fleet of the pedal-less vehicles descended upon Austin, Texas.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report states that the Cybercab drove over a large pothole filled with water. Even though it was just 5 miles per hour, the Cybercab was damaged.
Luckily, nobody was involved with this incident. Unluckily, this accident occurred because Tesla’s Cybercabs rely solely on video, with CEO Elon Musk condemning lidar scanners despite their ability to detect these kinds of obstacles. Musk himself has admitted that Cybercabs can’t see grey cats against the road at night, basically admitting that the camera-based system is inadequate for certain driving conditions.
Despite this, the Cybercab is on the road. It’s truly baffling.
Robotaxi crash stats in Texas
The Cybercab is not the only robotaxi to have an accident in Texas. Of course. In a four-week timespan ending in September 2026, there were 24 robotaxi crashes throughout Texas.
Eight of those crashes were Tesla robotaxis. Another eight involved Waymo. A simpleton could use this data to claim that both are equally safe or unsafe (whichever they think it proves regarding human drivers). But it’s not really a fair comparison for Waymo.
There are currently 319 registered Cybercab in the state of Texas. Waymo has 1,185 vehicles in Texas. The Cybercab (along with the Model Y taxis) has accumulated 3.1 million unsupervised miles. Waymo had driven 6.3 million miles in Austin as of December 2025, so that number has significantly increased since then.
Basically, the Cybercab and Waymo reported the same number of accidents despite Waymo having more vehicles and more miles. In other words, the Cybercab is seeming way more likely to crash. Waymo also claims that some of those accidents were due to human-driven vehicles making mistakes.
There are a few other cybercabs that have been involved in recent accidents in Texas. Avride had two crashes in Dallas and Zoox had one. This has brought their total number of accidents to 27 and 4, respectively. PlusAI was also mentioned in the report, which means there was one autonomous tractor-trailer crash.
CEO David Liu has acknowledged that people are scared of the idea of an 18-wheeler without a human driver. Even though it’s just one accident, this could lead to a larger catastrophe than a Waymo.
“People are still scared of the 18-wheeler trucks. It’s not the same thing (as robotaxis) because we’re talking about 80,000-pound trucks, right? It will take time,” he said.
I say, as long as it’s truly autonomous, I’m okay with it. From my experience in a Waymo, I can see many benefits of autonomous vehicles. But a vehicle with a Level 2 driver assistance system should not be roaming the streets without a human supervisor.
