Tesla winds down the Cybertruck to make room for the Cybercab robotaxi line
From the Robots digest for Nov 6, 2026
Sources Electrek The Guardian
What happened: Elon Musk announced on X that Tesla will wind down Cybertruck production at Gigafactory Texas around the middle of 2027 to make room for increased Cybercab output — the steering-wheel-free robotaxi Tesla already runs as a paid ride service in parts of Austin. He did not say whether the pickup would continue to be built elsewhere, and its specialised steel-body tooling would make a new site costly, The Guardian notes.
What's genuinely new: The end of the line closes out a truck that never worked commercially: deliveries began in late 2023 after long delays, it never approached Musk's stated 200,000-a-year target — third-quarter 2026 deliveries of the category containing it were 8,300 against 478,000 Model 3s and Model Ys — and it never went on sale in Europe for failing safety standards. The Guardian reports the same Texas plant will also build the Optimus humanoid, though the robotics trade press cautions Musk's statement names only Cybercab, with the Optimus ramp running separately: Model S and X lines were already converted to it at Fremont earlier in 2026, and the Texas Optimus project is still under construction. Tesla's Q3 filing shows research spending of about $2.76 billion against roughly $1.63 billion a year earlier, attributed in part to AI, Optimus and new vehicles.
Watch: a detailed Texas timetable and actual Cybercab output against the mid-2027 date — against a fleet US regulators are already auditing — whether Cybertruck production ends entirely or relocates, and the Optimus ramp's scale and reliability.
Links: The Guardian · RobotsBeat · Mezha · Nov 6, 5:41 AM ET
More context: Tesla built the Cybertruck line for 250,000 trucks a year but is selling at roughly a tenth of that pace — its "Other Models" category, which includes the pickup, fell 48% year on year to 8,295 in the third quarter of 2026, the lowest since mid-2021, according to Electrek. Giga Texas has more than 10 million square feet of factory floor and only 463 Cybercabs were registered in Texas as of late October, with the robotaxi built on a separate "unboxed" line, Electrek reports. Beyond the Cybercab, Tesla is still ramping production of its long-delayed Semi electric lorry and aims to start building a road-going version of the Roadster in 2028, The Guardian reports.