{"id":429759,"date":"2026-09-08T17:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T17:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/429759\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T17:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T17:36:13","slug":"how-could-tesla-cybercabs-impact-austin-first-responders-protocols-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/429759\/","title":{"rendered":"How could Tesla Cybercabs impact Austin first responders protocols?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Tesla\u2019s Cybercabs rolled out in Austin last week, drawing questions about what happens if one of the driverless vehicles is involved in a crash or malfunctions \u2014 and whether first responders are equipped to handle it.<\/p>\n<p>The vehicles have no steering wheel and no pedals, raising concerns about how emergency crews would move a Cybercab out of the way or take control during an incident.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEMS systems still need to be able to get these vehicles out of the way if they malfunction. Especially in the event of trying to access emergencies or help people flee certain sites,\u201d said Kara Kockelman, a transportation engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin.<\/p>\n<p>Tesla says each Cybercab has an emergency stop button that requests an immediate pull-over and connects riders to robotaxi support. However, some people say they would want to be able to take control of the vehicle in an emergency.<\/p>\n<p>For now, the Cybercabs are operating only in limited, select areas of Austin.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/teslas-new-self-driving-cybercabs-drive-into-federal-safety-scrutiny-as-safety-audit-openhttps:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/teslas-new-self-driving-cybercabs-drive-into-federal-safety-scrutiny-as-safety-audit-open\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ALSO | Homicide investigation underway after person found dead in Williamson County neighborhood<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/teslas-new-self-driving-cybercabs-drive-into-federal-safety-scrutiny-as-safety-audit-open\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The rollout has also drawn the attention of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,<\/a> the federal agency that sets vehicle safety standards and oversees whether automakers meet them. On Sept. 3, NHTSA announced it opened an audit query into Tesla\u2019s certification that the Cybercab meets all applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards.<\/p>\n<p>The audit query is not a recall or a finding that Cybercabs are unsafe. NHTSA said it is reviewing the technical information and process Tesla used to certify the vehicles, including whether the company determined some standards do not apply to vehicles without traditional human controls.<\/p>\n<p>NHTSA said existing federal safety standards remain in force while the agency works to update rules for automated vehicles, including requirements involving brake pedals, windshield wipers, lighting and rearview mirrors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNHTSA fully supports the safe development and deployment of automated vehicles. But as the federal regulator, we need to ensure that all of our laws are followed,\u201d NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison said.<\/p>\n<p>Tesla told NHTSA it plans to gradually expand commercial deployment of Cybercabs to additional vehicles and locations. The audit query lists an estimated vehicle population of 1,000 Cybercabs.<\/p>\n<p>CBS Austin said it has reached out to Tesla for a response to the audit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Tesla\u2019s Cybercabs rolled out in Austin last week, drawing questions about what happens if one&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-429759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}