Jonathan V. Last
Editor at The Bulwark who writes the Triad, a daily column on Donald Trump, Republican politics and the news cycle, and answers reader questions in the Triad Ma...
“Elon Musk is going to switch production to the Cybercab. Let me promise you, this is another Musk promise which is going to go nowhere. It is designed from Musk's 13-year-old fanboy perspective and not like how actual vehicle designs work. It's a taxi, but it's a two-seater sports car. No, stop. Go look at the London Black Taxi. That is a solved design.”
The Bulwark · Policy · November 2026
Context
Reacting to Musk saying Tesla will move Cybertruck production capacity to the Cybercab robotaxi. The host argues the product ignores how taxis are actually designed.
Transcript
…It didn't make any automotive sense. It was almost literally like cutting off your nose to spite your face because they were such terrible vehicles. Anyway, and this then also, as somebody notes in the chat, coming on behalf of Elon Musk Loses, how much money did he lose over the last 48 hours?
Well, we're going to get Tesla and SpaceX. We're going to get to that. Which is also
great. And he says he's switching to the cyber cab. That's what he's going to switch production to. And let me promise you, this is another Musk promise, which is going to go nowhere. The cyber cab is a ludicrous product which will not work, which cannot work, and which is designed again from Musk's 13-year-old fanboy perspective and not like how actual vehicle designs work. It's the idea is like, oh, it's a taxi, but it's a two-seater sports car. No, stop. This is not like, yeah, people have solved this design. Go look at the London Black Taxi. Like that is a solved design. Look at the cab design that they use in Japan, which is like a boxy thing, which can seat five people and a lot of luggage. Those are solved designs. Elon Musk is like, oh, I know. How to do it better than anyone else. No, you don't asshole. Look at your cyber truck.
Yeah, again, this I feel like is very representative of the Trump era. And maybe I'm just like trying to force this framework on it, but I really think it's true. Like you said, this is a product that was designed to be sold to people who wanted to give other people the finger, that that was more…
It's a fleet car. This is, you know, in car head worlds, like the you're, I don't think you're a gearhead. I am not. Don't make me unmade. But like the worst thing you can say about a car is like, yeah, that's a fleet car. That's what Hertz and Avis and Enterprise buy, and they just rent them out…
showed up at a Hertz dealer and they gave you a Cybertruck, I think you wouldn't even get that way.
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