In the wake of the US-China trade war, Tesla temporarily halted shipments of parts from China to the US. However, with both countries now agreeing to a 90-day truce and significantly reducing their respective tariffs, Tesla is looking to resume the import of critical components from China. Elon Musk may want to keep this news under wraps from President Trump, though, as his stance on tariffs is far from favorable.

Read: Tesla’s CyberCab Promises 300-Mile Range with Surprisingly Small Battery

An unnamed inside source told Reuters that Tesla will start shipping Cybercab and Semi parts from China at the end of this month. The electric automaker will reportedly start trial production of the Cybercab in October before moving ahead with mass production in 2026. Tesla has grandiose ambitions for the Cybercab and is betting on hundreds of thousands of units being sold in the US, forming the core of its long-awaited robotaxi service.

As the electric car maker gears up for production, many details about the Cybercab remain under wraps. What is known, however, is that the vehicle will be a compact, two-seater, completely eliminating the traditional steering wheel and pedals. Tesla is keeping specifics to a minimum, but early reports suggest the Cybercab will feature a battery pack smaller than 50 kWh, yet still offering an impressive range of approximately 300 miles (483 km).

Progress on the Tesla Semi

Production of the Tesla Semi officially began in late 2022, but progress has been slow. Full-scale production is expected to kick off next year at a new factory adjacent to the existing Gigafactory in Nevada, which will significantly expand Tesla’s production capabilities.

While Elon Musk and President Trump have found common ground on many issues in recent months, tariffs remain a notable point of disagreement. Trump has famously called tariffs “the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary,” yet Musk has long championed free trade. In fact, according to Reuters, he urged Trump to lower tariffs, though he ultimately left the decision in the President’s hands.

One of the unanticipated consequences of the tariffs was their negative impact on domestic production. Tesla’s CFO, Vaibhav Taneja, noted that the tariffs hurt the company’s US investments, as the company had to import equipment from China to expand its local production lines.

The dream of a driverless Tesla fleet shuttling people around while their owners kick back at home has been around for years, always just around the corner, but never quite here. Now, as the company continues to promise that reality is almost within reach, the U.S. Patent Office may have just introduced another delay.

As it turns out, names like “Robotaxi” and “Cybercab” might be too generic to trademark, and that could complicate Tesla’s rollout plans.

Read: Tesla Stiffs Cybertruck Owners On Another Promised Feature

It’s worth noting that Cybercab and Robotaxi refer to different things in the Tesla world. The former is the two-door prototype the automaker unveiled last year. The latter is the software that could enable everyday Tesla owners to let their car go around picking people up and moving them around while the owner is busy working or doing just about anything else.

According to TechCrunch, the USPTO just issued a non-final office action on the trademark application for the name Robotaxi. Specifically, the office said that name “describes a feature, ingredient, characteristic, purpose, function, intended audience of applicant’s goods and/or services.” In layman’s terms, it’s too general. The office even cited Wikipedia, Zoox, and The Verge to prove it.

“This term is used to describe similar goods and services by other companies,” the agency wrote. That mirrors a similar decision it made in April regarding Tesla’s attempt to trademark “Cybercab.”

FSD Supervised ride-hailing service is live for an early set of employees in Austin & San Francisco Bay Area.

We've completed over 1.5k trips & 15k miles of driving.

This service helps us develop & validate FSD networks, the mobile app, vehicle allocation, mission control &… pic.twitter.com/pYVfhi935W

— Tesla AI (@Tesla_AI) April 23, 2025

In that motion, the USPTO pointed to multiple concerns, including the potential for consumer confusion. In fact, it even mentioned other companies that use the word Cyber, including ones that specifically build aftermarket products for the Cybertruck. In a way, Tesla did this to itself. For now, though, the names aren’t dead and gone.

In both cases, Tesla can argue its case with whatever evidence it thinks is relevant. No doubt, the two words do seem tied to the automaker a little more all the time. Tesla must respond within three months or the USPTO will abandon the application. That runs well past Tesla’s planned June rollout, so expect more news on this topic sooner rather than later.

Tesla just took a big step forward toward bringing robotaxis to the public. Strangely, it didn’t come with a bunch of fanfare from its CEO either. Instead, the company quietly confirmed on X that it has made its ride-hailing service available to some employees.

“FSD Supervised ride-hailing service is live for an early set of employees in Austin & San Francisco Bay Area,” read the post. Those cities are both very important for Tesla as the brand has facilities in each. A short video posted along with the announcement tells us a bit more about how it works.

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A rideshare app allows users to click a big button that simply says “Pick Me Up.” Once the car arrives, users get a notification and a reminder to buckle up in the car. Cybertruck-styled font shows a new script that calls the service “Robotaxi.” The video seems to indicate that, for now, a human safety driver is in the driver’s seat during the testing.

Once in the car, it appears riders get a message on the rear-seat infotainment system to confirm their name, address, and arrival time. Riders click a button in the car that says “Start Ride,” and off goes the car. According to Tesla, it’s already completed 1.5k trips and 15k miles of driving.

FSD Supervised ride-hailing service is live for an early set of employees in Austin & San Francisco Bay Area.

We've completed over 1.5k trips & 15k miles of driving.

This service helps us develop & validate FSD networks, the mobile app, vehicle allocation, mission control &… pic.twitter.com/pYVfhi935W

— Tesla AI (@Tesla_AI) April 23, 2025

Interestingly, the Robotaxi nomenclature helps us understand an important point. The Cybercab refers to the vehicle, and Robotaxi is a service that can leverage more of Tesla’s models. No doubt, they’ll share software and functionality to a degree.

Perhaps the biggest surprise here isn’t that this is happening but that it’s seemingly on time. Elon Musk has famously been overly optimistic about true Level 5 driving tech. This time, it seems like his promise that a paid version of this service will go live in June could end up coming true. Even then, though, we expect a full-scale rollout to take a good long while. 

Tesla has a lot riding on its Cybercab robotaxi, but the program has hit a major snag, and CEO Elon Musk’s sometimes best buddy, President Trump is to blame. The automaker has been forced to drop its plans to ship essential Cybercab components from China as a result of Trump slapping enormous tariffs on Chinese imports, a report claims.

More: Tesla’s CyberCab Promises 300-Mile Range with Surprisingly Small Battery

The automaker expected to start sending parts to the US from China in the next few months, necessary to begin trial production of both the Cybercab and the Semi truck, the latter of which has so far only been produced in tiny quantities. The plan was to scale up to full production of both models in 2026.

Tariffs Throw a Wrench in the Works

Trump’s announcement of a 34 percent tariff wasn’t great news, but Reuters sources say Tesla was prepared to absorb the financial pain. But when Trump’s tit-for-tat tariffs battle escalated to the point where import duty on Chinese imports had reached 145 percent, Tesla slammed on the brakes.

Exactly how long Tesla will keep its foot on the brakes is unclear, since no one, perhaps not even Donald Trump himself, knows the duration of the massive tariffs. But the US President revealed earlier this week that he was considering making changes to the 25 percent tariff on imported auto parts built in Canada, Mexico, and other regions, and has recently announced an exemption on electronic devices such as iPhones which are made in China.

Tesla’s US Sourcing Strategy

Reuters says Tesla has, for the past couple of years, been increasing the amount of parts it gets from within US borders because it sensed that tariffs might one day come into effect. How quickly Tesla can switch suppliers and get Cybercab and Semi components from America isn’t clear – we’ve asked the question, but don’t expect Tesla to reply.

Tesla unveiled its long-awaited Cybercab last fall, a Honda CRX-shaped pod with scissor doors and no steering wheel, and is currently working on getting approvals to begin testing and operating driverless cars in the US and beyond.

Images: Telsa

Franz Von Holzhausen and Lars Moravy are among Tesla’s top brass—Von Holzhausen is the senior design exec, and Moravy serves as the VP of engineering. In other words, these two are practically walking encyclopedias of Tesla’s product plans. And now, they’ve decided to spill a bit more of the proverbial tea in a fresh interview with teardown expert Sandy Munro.

More: Tesla Plans Smaller Model Y That’s At Least 20% Cheaper To Produce

In this conversation, the pair delves into the challenges of developing and producing ambitious vehicles like the CyberCab and Robovan. Speaking of the small people mover, expect the CyberCab to continue its march toward a 2026 release date. Both Von Holzhausen and Moravy agreed that Tesla would manage to begin testing for Level 5 autonomy later this year too. Sure, those rideshare cars will use a real human backup working remotely but let’s see how it goes before we critique it.

CyberCab’s Surprising Range and Production Details

Moravy shared that the CyberCab will likely be powered by a battery pack smaller than 50 kWh, and still manage to deliver around 300 miles of “real-world” range. That would be impressive as most cars with that type of range currently have much larger battery packs. For instance, the Model 3 Long Range RWD uses a 79.7 kWh battery and has 363 miles of range.

The production side of things isn’t being left behind either. Moravy mentioned that Tesla will continue to lean heavily on its signature casting process too. The CyberCab will feature a large casting at both the front and rear, as well as door shell castings to help tie everything together. That aids in Tesla’s goal to cut costs and reduce complexity. Another move toward that goal is that the team isn’t going to paint the castings. They say they have corrosion under control so there’s no need.

Robovan Is Not Quite Ready for Prime Time

Switching gears to the Robovan, Von Holzhausen gave Sandy Munro a glimpse into the vehicle’s interior, though it seems Tesla’s still working through the details. The team has tried different configurations, but the one shown in the video features a 14-seat layout, which is a bit… ambitious. It’s easier to pick up on additional details in the light of day too. For instance, the seats look very wide compared to an everyday car.

Read: Elon Musk Sued For Allegedly Using AI Image From Blade Runner 2049

While it’s safe to say the final design could shift quite a bit before the Robovan hits the streets (whenever that may be), this video provides an interesting peek into Tesla’s ongoing projects. And while Elon Musk is off doing, well, whatever it is he does remotely, Von Holzhausen and Moravy are still hard at work shaping the future of the brand.