Tesla Spotted Testing Cybercab Front Bumper Blind Spot [VIDEO]

As Tesla's purpose-built autonomous vehicle approaches public deployment, on-road development has shifted into real-world settings. New ground tests provide a look at how the Cybercab is learning to handle everyday obstacles.

Parking Lot Trials in Austin

New clips posted online show Tesla employees conducting hardware tests in a parking lot in Austin, Texas. The footage was captured by @JksnRobotaxiATX, with additional sharing by @tesla2moon, as engineers placed objects directly in front of the vehicle.

pic.twitter.com/3739a4mXoq

— Jackson Blatz (@JksnRobotaxiATX) June 18, 2026

Engineers used an orange traffic cone and what appears to be a can of paint to evaluate how well the front bumper camera detects items positioned in the lower blind spot. The Cybercab unit on site had a steering wheel with an employee in the driver's seat, while Full Self-Driving (Supervised) appeared to manage low-speed maneuvers.

pic.twitter.com/QTDPHVFHHU

— Jackson Blatz (@JksnRobotaxiATX) June 18, 2026

This field testing follows recent EPA filings that offered the first official look at the Cybercab’s specifications. The documents list a 48 kWh battery pack and a maximum carrying capacity of 617 lbs (about 280 kg).

Expanding the Vision Stack

Designed from the ground up to be operated by a vision-only neural network, the Cybercab is equipped with an extensive camera suite. It includes two (larger) front cameras on the windshield and a new internal trunk camera to monitor passenger luggage. It also uses the same front bumper camera Tesla introduced to the Model Y with the “Juniper” refresh to spot low-lying obstacles.

On consumer vehicles, FSD does not currently use the front bumper camera for driving—at least not on other models. Instead, newer Teslas with that lower camera employ it for close-up parking, looking past blind intersections, and Actually Smart Summon (ASS).

The focused blind spot testing suggests engineers may be working to incorporate the front bumper camera into FSD’s driving logic. It is also possible the test vehicle is running an internal FSD build that already relies on the bumper camera and is undergoing validation, or that the team is calibrating hardware for a separate safety feature.

Fleet Production Gains Momentum

The timing of these hardware evaluations aligns with Tesla's Cybercab manufacturing ramp. Mass production officially kicked off at Gigafactory Texas in late April. Since then, production lines have accelerated, and Cybercab units have been rolling off the line at a steady rate.

Vehicles emerging from Giga Texas include a mix of steering wheel-less units and versions with manual controls, and public road testing is expanding. Over 150 Cybercabs were recently seen staging in Texas lots, with more than 100 at the factory.

Before commercial robotaxi rides can be offered using vehicles without pedals or steering wheels, regulatory steps remain. Locally, the path is beginning to open: Tesla recently self-certified its FSD-driven Robotaxi vehicles as Level 4 autonomy-compliant in Texas under a new state law.

If necessary, Tesla has confirmed a backup plan to deploy Cybercabs with steering wheels and pedals where regulations require them. With active road testing underway and production increasing, engineers fine-tuning low-level obstacle detection indicates a public debut could be near.