Tesla's hidden Cybercab joystick exposes the autonomy pitch — SkimNews
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- Tesla Cybercab: NHTSA opened a September 3 audit into how a vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals gets federally certified, days after Tesla chair Robin Denholm said physical controls could be added if regulators required.link ›
- Matthew Skrzypczak: Posted video on X on September 7 showing a hidden dragable virtual joystick on the Cybercab's touchscreen and frozen live camera views, suggesting a low-speed manual repositioning mode never publicly disclosed.link ›
- Tesla fleet pitch: Circulated interest forms to fleet buyers at the September 3 Cybercab event asking companies to buy vehicles and operate them on Tesla's Robotaxi network under a revenue split, per Electrek.link ›
- MisterGreen: Dutch leasing firm that bought 4,000+ Teslas betting on robotaxi income and appreciating-asset value filed for bankruptcy in December 2025 after used Teslas depreciated at roughly 3x the broader market rate, costing bondholders $40 million.link ›
- Nepal: Formally requested $20M from the UN loss and damage fund after August's glacier-collapse floods; foreign minister Shisir Khanal called the event a 'tsunami from the Himalayas' with waves up to 70 feet moving at 180km/h.link ›
- PHEVs: Transport & Environment analyzed 220,000 European plug-in hybrids and found real-world emissions rose to 145 gCO2/km in 2024 — only 14% below the average gas car, the opposite direction of official tests.link ›
- Volvo: Discontinuing the EX40 from the US after the 2027 model year; the new EX50 entry-level EV won't arrive until end of 2027 starting under $50,000, leaving the $59,795 EX60 as its cheapest US offering.link ›
- Cybertruck Powershare: Tesla activated Cybertruck-to-Powerwall 3 home backup nearly two years late, letting the 123 kWh truck extend home backup by more than three days at up to 11.5 kW.link ›
Tesla unveiled a no-steering-wheel, no-pedals Cybercab on September 3, then spent the week getting caught hedging that bet. On September 7, rider Matthew Skrzypczak posted video of a hidden virtual joystick on the Cybercab's touchscreen — manual controls Tesla never publicly acknowledged, even as NHTSA opened a same-day audit questioning how a vehicle without traditional inputs gets federally certified. Tesla also began circulating interest forms to fleet buyers to purchase Cybercabs and operate them on Tesla's Robotaxi network under a revenue split — pushing capex and depreciation onto operators while keeping the software margins. The pattern is familiar: pitch the autonomy, quietly engineer around it.
The stories behind this week
Tesla Courts Fleet Buyers for Cybercab NetworkFleet buyers would absorb vehicle capex and depreciation while Tesla retains software margins and network fees, and could undercut or deprioritize those same buyers on its own platform. MisterGreen's December 2025 bankruptcy — which cost bondholders $40 million after Tesla slashed new-car prices for two years — is the freshest evidence of how the "appreciating asset" promise plays out when the robotaxi revenue never materializes.
Nepal says big polluters must ‘wake up’ as it calls for climate compensation over flood disasterNepal’s formal claim highlights a growing material divide: countries responsible for the vast majority of emissions face little obligation to pay, while low-emission nations like Nepal confront recovery costs exceeding $5bn. The $20m request—less than 0.4% of needed funds—underscores the inadequacy of current global mechanisms despite established UN frameworks.
Tesla Autopilot Was On in Fatal Missouri CrashThe public initially received no indication of Autopilot’s role, while Tesla holds data that could clarify system performance in fatal crashes. This gap between internal reporting and public transparency increases scrutiny over how automakers disclose risks when marketing advanced driver-assist systems as near-autonomous.
Can an entire Arctic ecosystem evolve to adapt to the climate crisis?This first-of-its-kind project will determine whether evolution can preserve whole ecosystems through species interconnections rather than individual survival alone. With the Arctic warming faster than anywhere on Earth, Linda Deegan says the six-year findings will inform how ecosystems worldwide 'might be able to withstand the climate crisis.'
Tesla Cybertruck Powershare finally backs up homes with a Powerwall 3Tesla’s fix delivers critical functionality for high-end energy customers who invested in both Powerwall and Cybertruck, closing a glaring gap that made the truck unusable as backup for its most likely adopters. The nearly two-year delay and integration complexity reveal deeper technical hurdles in merging mobile and stationary grid-forming systems at scale.
Tesla Cybercab Has Hidden Touchscreen JoystickRegulators are scrutinizing whether a car with no physical controls can be certified as safe, but Tesla’s hidden manual mode suggests the company acknowledges scenarios where human intervention is necessary—undermining its claim that full autonomy eliminates the need for driver inputs. This creates tension between Tesla’s marketing and engineering realities.
Volvo kills off another EV for the US, but it has a replacement coming in 2027Volvo’s retreat from affordable EVs in the US leaves a $10,000 price gap between the outgoing EX40 and upcoming EX50, delaying access to competitive pricing. The delay risks ceding market share to rivals while relying on a $60,000 model as its entry point during a critical phase of EV adoption.
PHEVs Emit 6x More Pollution Than Tests Claim, Study FindsIf the EU fails to tighten utility factors, automakers keep collecting regulatory credit for PHEVs that in practice pollute nearly as much as gas cars, allowing them to delay scaling fully electric lineups while Chinese EV makers capture share in Europe — a competitive risk T&E's Mathieu explicitly flags in the piece.
Why it matters: If NHTSA forces Tesla to add physical controls to the Cybercab — or delays certification — the entire no-steering-wheel sales pitch collapses before a single vehicle ships to a fleet buyer.
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