Tesla Puts Cybercab on Static Display in Beijing and Shanghai

SHANGHAI - Tesla began a static Cybercab exhibition tour in Beijing and Shanghai on Sept. 17, giving Chinese visitors a close look at the steering-wheel-free robotaxi while the company stressed that the stops are design and technology displays only, not a sales launch or commercial robotaxi service in mainland China, according to Tesla China notices summarized by CnEVPost and local coverage.

The Beijing stop runs Sept. 17 to 27 at the Huamao Tesla experience store. The Shanghai stop runs Sept. 17 to 21 in the north hall on level LG1 of HKRI Taikoo Hui. Tesla China had previewed the mid-September China tour earlier in the month and reiterated that the events do not include retail sales of Cybercab or driverless ride-hailing operations in the Chinese market for now.

Photo: Tesla

Photo: Tesla

Cybercab is a purpose-built two-seat robotaxi without a conventional steering wheel, pedals, or traditional exterior mirrors. Tesla said on Sept. 3 that Cybercab had entered limited service in Austin, Texas. Texas Department of Motor Vehicles data cited by CnEVPost showed 45 Cybercabs registered for Tesla’s local robotaxi fleet as of Aug. 31, after earlier use mainly for employee rides.

Photo: Tesla

On Sept. 18, Tesla China circulated additional official Cybercab imagery as the exhibition tour drew attention on Chinese social platforms. Reporting that followed the photo drop noted confirmed efficiency claims around more than 6.1 miles per kilowatt-hour for the vehicle, alongside a roughly 47.6 kilowatt-hour pack and a front-wheel-drive permanent-magnet motor layout in published China materials. Those figures come from company-linked summaries and have not been independently tested for this report.

Photo: Tesla

The China tour arrives as Tesla’s local passenger-car retail sales remain under pressure. China Passenger Car Association figures compiled by CnEVPost put Tesla’s August China retail deliveries at 50,047 vehicles, down 12.43 percent year on year and the third consecutive monthly decline. Separately, Tesla launched an all-wheel-drive Performance version of the updated Model Y in China on Sept. 11.

Volume production of Cybercab began at Gigafactory Texas in April 2026 after the first production unit rolled off the line in February, Tesla has said. The vehicle uses an Unboxed manufacturing approach in which subassemblies are built in parallel before final assembly. Whether and when Tesla moves from China exhibitions to a concrete commercial robotaxi timeline on the mainland remains unsettled.