Entrepreneurs could hold the key to Tesla's Cybercab plans
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Tesla's traditional do-it-yourself instinct could be tested by its nationwide robotaxi ambitions.
The big picture: Manufacturing self-driving taxis is one thing. Financing, parking, charging, cleaning and maintaining enough of them to blanket the country is another — and Tesla is signaling that it might want entrepreneurs to help shoulder the load.
Driving the news: Alongside last week's driverless Cybercab launch, Tesla began soliciting interest from people who want a piece of the action.
- "Help us build our Robotaxi network," says a newly posted page on Tesla's website.
- Prospective partners interested in "Cybercab fleet vehicle purchasing" as well as "mobility hubs and infrastructure" are invited to fill out a form.
- Tesla hasn't disclosed anything about the economics of such an arrangement, including how much a Cybercab costs.
Zoom out: One possible model comes from Amazon, whose Delivery Service Partner program relies on more than 4,000 independent businesses to perform the expensive, labor-intensive work of delivering its packages.
- Amazon provides the customers, technology, logistics network and other support, while local entrepreneurs operate fleets of Amazon-branded vans and hire the drivers.
- That arrangement helped Amazon build a gigantic delivery network without having to employ every driver and own every vehicle.
Tesla could use Cybercab entrepreneurs in much the same way.
- Tesla could build the cars, provide the autonomous driving technology and manage the Robotaxi app that would match passengers with vehicles.
- Independent fleet owners could bring capital to buy the cars — and assume the financial risk of keeping them busy and profitable.
- A structure along those lines could potentially help Tesla shift billions of dollars in vehicles and infrastructure off its own balance sheet while preserving control of the network.
Between the lines: It would be a big departure, however, for Tesla, which has historically embraced vertical integration — from vehicle manufacturing to battery production to its Supercharger network.
- Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
Follow the money: The Amazon experience also illustrates the risk for entrepreneurs whose businesses depend heavily on one powerful platform.
- One group of Amazon Delivery Service Partners recently organized to seek better financial terms; Amazon says the vast majority of its partners run successful, profitable businesses.
- At Tesla, the risk is that an entrepreneur might invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in Cybercabs or infrastructure only to discover that Tesla can alter the economics — or expand its own competing fleet — virtually overnight.
Reality check: Even if Tesla were to adopt some kind of franchising model for Cybercab, it's not yet ready to scale fully autonomous AVs.
- So far, it has only a modest fleet in Austin, Texas, with just 45 Cybercabs authorized for driverless operation statewide.
- While Tesla says its factory can build up to 125,000 a year, its second-quarter letter to shareholders noted that batteries are "the main limiting factor to near-term vehicle production volume increase."
There's also a regulatory hurdle. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into Tesla's self-certification that the Cybercab — which lacks a steering wheel and pedals — complies with federal vehicle safety standards.
What we're watching: Whether Tesla fills in the missing pieces of its entrepreneur pitch — particularly the Cybercab's price and how revenue would be divided between Tesla and fleet owners.
The bottom line: If Tesla's ultimate objective is to operate a massive ride-hailing network, the fastest way could be to get thousands of other businesses to help pay for it.
