When does the Cybercab come to Florida? Orlando, Tampa, Miami

What Florida law allows

Florida does not require a licensed human operator, or anyone on board, for a fully autonomous vehicle (FS §316.85(1)–(2)). Local governments cannot add taxes, fees or for-hire rules for autonomous vehicles, but airports and seaports can charge reasonable fees and designate staging and pickup locations (FS §316.85(6)). That exception is what lets an airport set fees and pickup spots for robotaxis. Read the statute at Florida Statutes §316.85, or our explainer on why Florida became robotaxi country.

Is the Cybercab in Florida yet?

The cars are here; the rides are not. At least 20 Cybercabs were reported in a lot beside Miami International Airport on September 3, 2026, and one was filmed driving in Orange County on June 15, 2026. As of September 25, 2026, public Cybercab rides run only in Austin, Texas. Tesla runs Model Y robotaxis in Miami, Orlando and Tampa and has named no Florida Cybercab date.

Update, September 25, 2026: the cars themselves have been seen in Florida, but none carries riders. Sources: Teslarati, Sep 3; Not a Tesla App, Sep 8, which reported that locals say Cybercabs have sat in that airport-adjacent lot for months and that public Cybercab rides are confined to Texas; ClickOrlando, News 6, Jun 15, for the car on Pine Hills Road. No report we found has a Cybercab carrying passengers in Florida.

State law is not the hold-up. Florida Statutes 316.85(6) bars local governments from imposing any tax, fee, for-hire vehicle requirement or other requirement on autonomous vehicles or the people who operate them. In our reading (not legal advice), its text reaches the vehicles, not land use, so a depot, charging yard or staging lot still goes through local zoning. For where the Orlando depot for privately owned Cybercabs stands, see DockDuty’s Orlando robotaxi depot page: what is live, what is not, and what is refundable.

Tesla’s Q2 2026 update listed seven US robotaxi metros, six of them unsupervised, and three of the six are in Florida (Tesla, Jul 22). Miami went live July 3; Orlando and Tampa followed on July 21, eighteen days later (Not a Tesla App, Jul 21). All of it runs on Model Ys. The purpose-built car is a Texas story so far: 45 Cybercabs registered to Tesla’s Texas motor-carrier fleet on August 31, none anywhere else (Teslarati, Aug 31). Florida is also home to DockDuty’s lead market, Orlando, and to two more planned depots, in Miami and Tampa Bay.

The Florida question going into September 3 was specific: would Tesla say when the Cybercab leaves Texas, and is Florida the next stop? The answer, as of September 22, 2026, is that Tesla did not say. The rest of this page is the test we hold Florida to, and the record of what did and did not happen.

Why Florida is the obvious second state

Florida Statutes 316.85 let a fully autonomous vehicle operate on public roads with no human operator inside and no special state permit, provided it meets the insurance and vehicle requirements every other car meets (the plain-English version). Texas is similar, which is why both states host Tesla’s unsupervised service and California, with its permit regime, still has a safety driver in every Tesla. A Cybercab has no driver seat at all. In Florida that raises no state-level question a Model Y robotaxi did not already answer. Whatever gates the Cybercab’s spread is federal (the car’s safety-standard status, which Tesla says it self-certifies) and operational (production, charging, depots). Not Florida law.

The demand case is also plain. Orlando is a tourist metro whose robotaxi zone hugs the airport corridor; Miami and Tampa are dense, flat and warm. Two-seat, one-or-two-passenger trips between an airport, a hotel strip and a convention center are the Cybercab’s design case, as we argue in why the Cybercab has two seats.

What outlets expected Tesla to say about Florida

Electrek’s Fred Lambert, in his August 28 predictions, expects Tesla to announce the Cybercab joining the robotaxi service in Texas and Florida markets, naming Austin, Dallas, Houston, Tampa and Orlando, on the reasoning that adding cities to a slide “costs almost nothing” and makes a good visual (Electrek, Aug 28). That was a prediction about a slide, and Lambert framed it that way. Our own predictions page put 55% on Florida appearing on a map and 20% on a Florida date.

What September 3 said about Florida: nothing

Nothing Florida-specific was announced. The event was invite-only at ACL Live in Austin, with no livestream and reporters turned away; executives spoke for about 15 minutes (Forbes, Sep 3; Reuters, Sep 4). What Tesla did: public Cybercab rides in its own Austin fleet from September 4, a fleet interest form at tesla.com/robotaxi/interest, updated Robotaxi app terms. What it did not do: name a next Cybercab city, a Florida metro, a month, a price, an order book or a delivery date (the dated record). No outlet we can cite reported a Florida mention in Cybercab context. Because there was no stream, “on a slide” is graded on what reached the public record, and the public record has no Florida in it.

So the Florida status on September 22, 2026 is what it was on September 2: three live Model Y metros, zero Cybercabs, no announced plan. The 55% call was a miss, the 20% call was right in the sense that there was no month, and both are graded on the predictions page.

What a real Florida announcement would contain

None of the four rows below happened on September 3. The table stays because it is the test we will apply the day one of them does.

There is one thing Florida lacks that Texas has: a public, searchable motor-carrier registry that outside observers used to catch the 45 Texas registrations days before the event. We do not know of an equivalent public feed for Florida. If Cybercabs come here, the first sign is more likely to be a rider’s photo than a database row.

Update, September 25, 2026: that is how it went. The first Florida signs were photos, not records: one Cybercab on Pine Hills Road in Orange County in June and at least 20 in a lot beside Miami International Airport in early September (sources above). None is carrying passengers in any report we found.

How a two-seat car fits the Orlando zone

Orlando’s Tesla zone at launch was a roughly 25 to 45 square-mile corridor around Semoran Boulevard and Lee Vista, near the airport, with no drop-offs yet at the MCO terminals, the theme parks or downtown, and fares reported at about $3.25 base plus roughly $1 per mile (our Orlando guide, citing Fox 35, Jul 22). Those are short, solo-or-pair trips on wide, flat roads, which is the trip the Cybercab was drawn for. The obvious mismatch is luggage: a family of four with suitcases needs a Model Y, and the app would have to route them to one. The obvious fit is the business traveler and the couple, who are most airport-corridor riders.

What has to exist on the ground first

Tesla services its Florida Model Ys from its own facilities today. A Cybercab needs the same things plus one open question. It needs charging that matches how the production car is built: wireless pads if it ships without a port, cabled chargers if the hidden port on validation cars survives to production, both if Tesla hedges. It needs cleaning between rides and somewhere to wait when demand is low. Tesla builds all of that for Tesla’s cars. Nobody has built it for private owners, because no private owner exists yet.

That is what we are building in Orlando, and we are pre-launch: no site opened, no Cybercabs on our network. September 3 brought no Florida date, so the depot question stays on the timeline it was on. The charging question moved further than the map did: hands-on reports in September 2026 described the cars in service charging DC only through a NACS port with no onboard AC charger (our write-up, hedged), which is the plugs answer for now. How robotaxis charge walks the math for pads, plugs and both.

Florida is a two-operator state

For completeness: Waymo serves Miami and Orlando, and opened Tampa to riders by invitation on September 1, 2026 (the tracker). Waymo’s cars keep a steering wheel. Tesla announced nothing for Florida on September 3, so a Florida rider already has a driverless option in all three metros, and a Florida owner still has no car to buy. The launch page is where the second half of that sentence gets updated.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Cybercab available in Florida?

No. As of September 22, 2026 every Cybercab registered to a passenger fleet is in Texas: 45 of them, registered on August 31, carrying the public in Austin since September 4. Tesla’s Florida robotaxi service in Miami, Orlando and Tampa uses Model Ys. Tesla’s September 3, 2026 Cybercab event named no Florida market and no Florida date; nothing Florida-specific was announced.

Which Florida cities have Tesla robotaxis?

Miami, live since July 3, 2026, and Orlando and Tampa, live since July 21, 2026, all unsupervised Model Ys hailed through the Tesla Robotaxi app. Waymo also serves Miami and Orlando and opened Tampa to riders by invitation on September 1, 2026.

Why is Florida easy for robotaxis?

Florida Statutes 316.85 allow a fully autonomous vehicle to operate on public roads with no human operator inside and no special state permit, as long as it meets insurance and vehicle requirements. That is why Tesla could switch on three Florida metros in 18 days in July 2026, and why a Cybercab, which has no driver at all, faces no extra Florida hurdle a Model Y robotaxi did not.

Can I buy a Cybercab and run it in Orlando?

Not yet. No Cybercab order book exists, no consumer price has been published, and Tesla has not published terms for customer-owned cars on its network. The September 3, 2026 event did not change any of that; it added public rides in Tesla’s own Austin fleet and a fleet interest form. Until an order book opens, Orlando owners can reserve a depot stall, which is refundable, and cannot buy the car.