Cybercab — who covers accident liability?

Liability

We posted a few days ago about Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s claims that the company would begin production of the self driving Cybercab in the second quarter of 2026. And we completely forgot about this — who cover’s liability?

If there is no driver and the expectations are that the vehicle will go station to station on its own, how could it be that the owner has to pay for vehicle insurance?

I can understand the argument that, yes, the owner needs coverage. However, doesn’t the manufacturer have to assume at least a large part of the liability for what the vehicle does?

Remember, the Cybercab will not have any means for anyone inside to control anything.

This feels like something regulators will need to address before the vehicle is released into the wild.

Speaking of which, I heard but could not confirm that Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm said in a CNBC interview that the company could not begin production because they did not have the necessary regulatory approval. And while searching for the confirmation I could not find, I ran into this from the Washington Post.

“Musk said during a July earnings call that he wasn’t concerned about getting regulatory approval for the Cybercab, because federal regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) would be “morally obligated” to approve the vehicle if it proved to be safer than a human driver.”

The piece added that according to NHTSA, however, all companies looking to operate and sell a vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals must apply for and receive an exemption from them before the vehicles can be operated on public roads.

Thank goodness. And hopefully NHTSA‘s moral obligation will include looking deeper at Tesla‘s data rather than taking it at face value.

And not to forget, no one seems to be asking the question, who covers liability?

The Post article is here.

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