Tesla began offering paying passengers rides in a small number of two-seat Cybercabs across limited, tightly geofenced areas of Austin, Texas, on Sept. 3. The launch event was not livestreamed, Elon Musk did not attend, and remarks on pricing, manufacturing and technology lasted about 15 minutes, leaving questions about operations, fleet size and regulatory approval unanswered. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the U.S. auto-safety regulator, opened an audit query within 24 hours covering roughly 1,000 vehicles. The agency is examining Tesla’s self-certification that the Cybercab complies with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards despite having no steering wheel, brake pedal, accelerator pedal, rear-view mirrors or human driver station. Tesla did not seek a temporary exemption under Part 555, which currently limits such deployments to 2,500 vehicles annually; Tesla vehicle engineering chief Lars Moravy said the cap does not apply to the Cybercab. The pending SELF DRIVE Act would raise that ceiling to 90,000 vehicles. Texas records showed 45 Cybercabs among 420 autonomous Tesla vehicles registered in the state. Jefferies analysts found Tesla rides in Austin were cheaper than Alphabet’s Waymo but involved longer waits, more human safety drivers and less efficient routes. Tesla says Robotaxi also operates with Model Ys across Texas and Florida and that the Cybercab will eventually anchor a larger autonomous network. Tesla critic Gordon Johnson said the limited rollout served the stock narrative more than proof of scalable autonomous operations. Shares fell about 6% on Sept. 4 to close at $354.08, and declined a further 0.34% after hours.