Tesla Still Wants To Sell Cybercabs This Year

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Happy Thursday! It's October 22, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift — your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition we're looking at Tesla's sales goals for the Cybercab, as well as investors' response to the company's AI pivot. We'll also look at Toyota's European goals, and worsening international relations between China and the UK. 

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The Tesla Cybercab is under investigation from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for its lack of any sort of meaningful controls. Tesla swears this meets all NHTSA standards, but the administration itself is a little unsure that this fits requirements like "having a steering wheel." Tesla, of course, is undeterred, and intends to get Cybercabs into consumer hands this year. For sure. Definitely. From Reuters: 

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 21 (Reuters) – Tesla ​is aiming to start selling its Cybercab robotaxis to the public by the end of this year, its ‌engineering chief said on Wednesday, even as the US auto safety agency probes the vehicles that come without manual controls which federal regulations typically require.

...

"As Tesla grows, we'll ​mainly deliver fully designed autonomous vehicles to our customers and Cybercabs will be the first," Lars Moravy, ⁠Tesla's vice president of vehicle engineering, told analysts after reporting third-quarter results.

"We're trying to get Cybercabs to customers by the end ​of this year, 2026," he said. "As we start small this year, and we learn ... about delivery and ownership and fleet management of ​autonomous vehicles in customer hands, we'll continue to scale that."

I have to wonder what the market is for these. People want their own autonomous cars, research shows us that, but do they want them without any controls at all?

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Tesla is an AI and robotics company now, not a car company — never mind that most of its business is still building and selling cars. As the company tries to lower its spending, though, it's ended up in an interesting position: Investors are worried that it may not be spending enough on research in those non-car categories. From Reuters: 

Oct 22 (Reuters) – Tesla's shares slid 5% in premarket trading on Thursday as the EV maker's reduced capital spending forecast raised ​questions about the pace of investment behind Elon Musk's ‌AI, robotics and autonomous-driving ambitions.

The company on Wednesday lowered its 2026 capital spending forecast to about $20 billion from more than $25 billion after spending far ​less than expected on AI and robotics in the ​third quarter, which led to a surprise positive free ⁠cash flow.

Since this was published, though, we've seen AI companies drop in today's stocks. What will Tesla investors, bullish on AI, think if the bubble pops? Can they think, at all? These are the questions we must ask if we want our economy to resemble reality in any meaningful way. 

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Toyota wants to expand its European operations, but the company is facing tough competition: Cheaper Chinese cars have begun to enter the continent, and there's no putting that genie back in the bottle. Toyota, though, is convinced that it can expand in Europe without price wars. from Automotive News: 

BRUSSELS — Toyota expects record European sales this year while refusing to match the discounts Chinese rivals are using to win over mass-market buyers, European sales chief Till Conrad said.

Conrad said that he was optimistic that Toyota would beat last year's record sales of about 1.23 million vehicles in the automaker's European region, which includes 53 countries such as Turkey, Israel and parts of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It also includes the Lexus brand.

Toyota has had a strong year, with record nine-month sales of 936,042, an increase of 0.6 percent over 2025, in its Europe region, the automaker said Oct. 21.

"We try to achieve stable and continuous growth," Conrad told Automotive News Europe on Oct. 16 at an event in Brussels, "But we try to avoid price wars because it doesn't create value for our customers and our retailers."

It makes sense that Toyota doesn't want to cheapen its product, but it could be tough to convince European buyers to shell out for that oval badge when the Chinese competitors are offering comparable quality at a lower price. Maybe the company knows something I don't about tariffs or import limits, but as it stands, I wish Toyota luck here. 

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The UK may no longer be part of the European Union, but the bloc still wants Britain to align with it on one crucial point: Imports of Chinese cars. Specifically, The EU wants the UK to sign on to limit imports of Chinese cars, which China doesn't love. From Automotive News: 

SHANGHAI — China threatened to retaliate against the United Kingdom if the country implements restrictions on Chinese electric vehicles, escalating a trade dispute as the European Union courts Britain to join its import controls.

China's commerce ministry issued the warning Oct. 19 following reports that the United Kingdom may join the EU in restricting Chinese EV imports.

"China will resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard legitimate rights and interests of China's industries if the U.K. insists on taking restrictive measures against Chinese electric vehicles," a ministry spokesperson said in a post on its website.

The Brexit bullish like the idea of auto manufacturing returning to the UK, so tariffs from China would be a major blow to that industry. There's always the possibility that Britain does something smart here, but that wouldn't much align with what we've seen from that Parliament as of late. 

I've been getting a lot of skydiving, BASE jumping, and wingsuit reels on Instagram recently. Turns out, there's a drop zone not far from the city! I now keep asking my friends if they want to come jump out of a plane. 

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