Operator’s manual. Seven sheets. Revised November 14, 2026.

How to start a robotaxi business.

Seven steps, every claim sourced.

Start at step one Open the worksheets

White line drawing of a Cybercab seen from the side with one door raised, with callouts reading two seats, no steering wheel, $29,990 and $299 a month to operate.
Fig. 1. Cybercab, side elevation.
Not to scale.

What is for sale.

On November 13, 2026 Tesla began inviting select customers to buy a Cybercab for personal use. Two seats, no steering wheel, no pedals. Invite only.

Personal use only: owners cannot earn fares yet. The seven sheets that follow are the business around the car, in the order you would build it.

  1. Step 1

    Sheet
    1 of 7
    Contains
    Fig. 2, service areas
    Rev.
    Nov 14, 2026

    Live service area, eight cities

    sq mi

    A Cybercab works only inside these areas, and Tesla can expand, shrink or change them. Service runs 24 hours. Pick the zone first: the numbers, the depot and the cover all follow from it.

      Listed as coming soon

        Fig. 2. The eight live service areas, drawn to one scale. A dashed line is a city listed as coming; no area is drawn for it.

      • Step 2

        Sheet
        2 of 7
        Contains
        Worksheet A, Fig. 3
        Rev.
        Nov 14, 2026
        Worksheet A

        What one car could keep in a month

        100
        $1.00
        30%

        Owner keeps, a month

        $1,261
        Fares collected $3,000
        Fig. 3. One month of fares, split. The hatching is keyed to the lines below.
        Where one month of fares goes
        Fares collected$3,000
        The network’s share−$900
        Autonomy Subscription−$299
        Charging, insurance, cleaning, parking−$540
        Owner keeps$1,261

        A year at this rate$15,132

        Payback on $29,99024 months

        A scenario, not a forecast.

        Owner earning is not open. The order terms bar commercial use, Tesla’s stated target for owner cars joining its network is Q2 2027, and no revenue split has been published. The 30% share is a placeholder. Move it.

        Assumes 30 days, 40% extra unpaid miles, charging at 5¢ a mile, $180 insurance and $150 cleaning and parking a month. Taxes and financing are not included.

      • Step 3

        Sheet
        3 of 7
        Contains
        Schedule of six ways
        Rev.
        Nov 14, 2026

        Six ways to earn. Three are open.

        The fleet form is one way in. These are all six, with what is open at this revision.

          • Step 4

            Sheet
            4 of 7
            Contains
            Fig. 4, depot plan
            Rev.
            Nov 14, 2026
            Schematic plan of a depot: a lot beside the service zone boundary, with four charging bays, a cleaning bay and six waiting bays. Service zone near ABCD
            Fig. 4. A depot, plan view. Schematic, not to scale. The one dimension that matters is the distance to the zone.

            Parts list

            ALandnear a service zone
            BDC chargingsomewhere to charge
            CA cleaning baysomewhere to get cleaned
            DWaiting bayssomewhere to wait

            Tesla’s depot list, from sheet 3

          • Step 5

            Sheet
            5 of 7
            Contains
            Worksheet B, Fig. 5
            Rev.
            Nov 14, 2026
            Worksheet B

            What one car costs to hold

            Sticker plus subscription. Years held: 5

            $47,631
            5

            Monthly subscription

            Fig. 5. Sticker price and subscription on one scale. The dashed line is the same car at the other fee.
            Sticker price
            once, before taxes
            Subscription
            $17,64159 payments of $299
            At $115 instead
            $36,775a difference of $10,856

            Before taxes, insurance and charging. The first month of the subscription is included in the price, so the first year is 11 payments. Without the subscription the car does not operate.

          • Step 6

            Sheet
            6 of 7
            Contains
            Notes 1 to 8
            Rev.
            Nov 14, 2026

            Notes

            The fine print of the one order open today, the personal-use Cybercab, as reported. Read all eight before a company signs anything.

            1. Step 7

              Sheet
              7 of 7
              Contains
              Fig. 6, the weekly
              Rev.
              Nov 14, 2026
              Fig. 6. An operator’s weekly log. Blank on purpose: owner cars are not on the network yet.

            Playbooks.

            Six longer reads. Each one goes with a sheet of the manual.