Tesla's Cybercab Charging Port and Butterfly Doors in Action [VIDEO]

The future of autonomous transit is starting to appear on the streets of Austin, Texas. Recent sightings of Cybercab engineering prototypes and the current status of the Robotaxi service reveal additional details about how Tesla is testing and rolling out the vehicles.

Although the long-term aim is a fully hands-off, wireless fleet, the present implementation still uses physical charging plugs.

Cybercab’s Charging Port

Tesla Cybercab charging is on the bumper, has a cap, doesn’t open/shut automatically. Interesting. 👀 Spotted randomly today with @JoshWest247 pic.twitter.com/eSNihXh9tl

— WHAT'S INSIDE? (@whatsinside) January 29, 2026

Tesla has said the purpose-built Cybercab would rely exclusively on inductive wireless charging, but recent prototype sightings have confirmed a conventional charge port is present.

The port is located behind a small manual drop-down door in the rear corner of the bumper and is a NACS port. It unexpectedly includes a rubber weather cap, a feature more commonly seen on CCS ports used by non-Tesla EVs.

This physical NACS port serves as a practical engineering bridge for testing. Current infrastructure does not have the inductive charging pads required for a wireless-only fleet, even for limited testing. The physical NACS ports allow prototypes to use the existing Supercharger network for data collection and to charge as needed.

A First Look at the Butterfly Doors

First Cybercab door fully opening and closing in the wild 🎥 @artsimage pic.twitter.com/uRYX1MOFya

— ARTSIMAGE (@artsimage) January 31, 2026

The Cybercab’s butterfly doors have also been observed. In the video, a Tesla engineer presses a button on the B-pillar to unlatch and open the door; the door then closes on its own when he gets into the vehicle, similar to the powered doors in the Model X.

The butterfly door is mechanically simpler than the Model X’s falcon doors but still provides ample room for passengers to enter. We’ll see if Tesla changes the door handle design with the upcoming ban on electric-only door handles.

Limited Unsupervised Availability

While Cybercab prototypes are attracting attention, the live Robotaxi service in Austin continues to rely on a fleet of slightly modified Model Y vehicles. As of late January 2026, Tesla has begun mixing a small number of Unsupervised rides into the larger fleet.

On those select rides there is no front-seat safety monitor, allowing passengers to sit in the front seat and ride without an in-car safety monitor. However, "Unsupervised" does not mean unmonitored.

Some Unsupervised robotaxis were initially observed being followed closely by Tesla chase cars, though the most recent Unsupervised robotaxis have not had chase cars. During Tesla’s recent earnings call, Musk confirmed that Tesla is no longer using chase cars.

The Unsupervised robotaxis appear to operate inside an extremely limited geofence, smaller than the original 19 square mile service area, according to some riders who did extensive testing. We’ll have to wait and see whether the service area expands as quickly as it did for the supervised fleet; given Tesla’s cautious, slow rollout so far, it will likely take a few weeks for any further steps.