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.

Tesla customers in Austin, Texas, can now book rides in a driverless Cybercab that has no steering wheel or pedals.

The big picture: While the initial fleet size is limited, the Cybercab's official commercial launch in Austin on Sept. 4 marked the beginning of CEO Elon Musk's vision for an autonomous future.

A veteran real estate executive is trying to launch a network of what he calls the modern-day robotaxi equivalent of full-service gas stations.

Why it matters: Tesla's call for entrepreneurs is already inspiring another potential business opportunity: building the places for fleet owners to park and service their Cybercabs.

Between the lines: "There's a lot of very successful entrepreneurs. They live in suburbia. They don't want eight robotaxis sitting ... on their street," Jason Maxwell tells Axios.

• Maxwell is trying to launch Fleetport, what he envisions as a network of hubs offering overnight storage of 100 to 250 robotaxis, along with fast charging, cleaning and basic maintenance.
• His target customer: the aspiring entrepreneur who buys seven, 10 or 20 Cybercabs but doesn't have anywhere to put them.

Reality check: Fleetport is itself a bet on a future that hasn't arrived yet.

• Maxwell has no partnership with Tesla, hasn't raised institutional capital and hasn't begun construction — but he says he and a partner have identified potential sites, beginning with Texas.
• Fleetport's website says it plans six hubs near major airports — in Austin, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Miami — opening in 2027.

What we're watching: Finding suitable real estate in any densely populated city is difficult, but robotaxi depots need to be carefully located to maximize efficiency and avoid empty trips.

• The challenge is compounded by zoning and permitting delays, not to mention power requirements.
• It can take years to build the necessary infrastructure, and it requires plenty of capital.
• And consumer demand for robotaxis is still uncertain.

What they're saying: Maxwell acknowledges the risk.

• "Maybe it's not as quick as I want. Maybe it's five years or longer," he says of a national Cybercab rollout.
• His bet is that robotaxi depots will eventually become their own real estate asset class — and that getting control of the right properties before the boom could be lucrative.

The bottom line: If Tesla really does unleash thousands of independently owned Cybercabs, some of the best business opportunities could turn out to be decidedly old-school: parking spaces, electricity and car washes.

Lyft is emerging as an ideal partner for Waymo, bringing riders and the infrastructure to keep its robotaxis running — without getting in the way of Waymo's push to build its own ride-hailing business.

Why it matters: As Waymo's relationship with rival Uber frays under the weight of competing ambitions, Lyft sees an opportunity: making itself indispensable to Waymo behind the scenes.

Driving the news: Starting today, Lyft riders can be matched with a Waymo robotaxi in Nashville.

• It's the first market where Waymo vehicles are available across both the Waymo and Lyft apps.
• The vehicle fleet is managed by Lyft's Flexdrive unit, whether they're dispatched through Waymo's own app or Lyft's.
• Flexdrive will handle charging, cleaning and maintenance of hundreds of Waymo vehicles at a new 80,000-square-foot depot set to open this fall.

Zoom out: The arrangement stands in contrast to Waymo's increasingly strained partnership with Uber in Austin and Atlanta, where Waymo rides are available exclusively through Uber's app.

• As Waymo expands its own consumer-facing service into more cities, its interests increasingly overlap with Uber's.
• Earlier this year, Waymo ended a three-year pilot with Uber in Phoenix, and it's talking about doing the same in Austin and Atlanta, per the Financial Times.

The big picture: Lyft is making a different play. It's less of a competitive threat to Waymo and is offering two things Waymo really needs: riders and the infrastructure needed to service its fleet.

• "We want to prove this model in Nashville and then take it to scale," Jeremy Bird, Lyft's executive vice president of global growth, tells Axios.

The key is Flexdrive, Lyft's often-overlooked fleet management subsidiary acquired in 2020 to help supply rental cars to Lyft drivers.

• In Nashville, Lyft and Waymo have aligned their incentives around a crucial metric: keeping Waymo's expensive high-tech vehicles busy.

Between the lines: That means Lyft can benefit from Waymo's growth without requiring Waymo to surrender its brand or direct relationship with customers.

• Waymo gets incremental demand from Lyft when it needs it, plus a partner to handle the decidedly unglamorous work of keeping its vehicles on the road.
• Lyft, meanwhile, gets a role in the robotaxi economy even when a passenger never opens its app.

The bottom line: Lyft may never match Uber's scale. But in the emerging robotaxi business, being smaller — and more willing to operate behind the scenes — could make Lyft exactly the kind of partner Waymo wants.

Go deeper.

🇨🇳 U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blasted Ford's business partnerships with Chinese companies, saying they pose national security concerns. Ford responded that Duffy's "letter is a wrongheaded attempt to capture ​headlines." (Reuters)

💸 PlusAI announced its third attempt to go public in a SPAC deal that values the self-driving truck software developer at $800 million. (Transport Topics)

🍿 A four-hour Elon Musk documentary premiered this week in Venice. The Associated Press interviewed filmmaker Alex Gibney about what Musk has called "a hit piece." (AP)

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What's new: The hatchback is a sportier sibling to the entry-level K4 sedan, offering extra headroom for rear-seat passengers and more cargo space.

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What I didn't love: It's just a quibble, but the climate display is partially obscured by the steering wheel.

The bottom line: Great styling and technology at a great price.

I test-drive vehicles in my role as a juror for the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards. Opinions are my own.