{
"_about": "Source data for https://dockduty.com/robotaxi-glossary.html. Every entry here is rendered visibly on that page AND emitted as schema.org DefinedTerm by scripts-gen-glossary.mjs, so the two cannot drift. Definitions are written to be quoted on their own. Company names stay out of the first sentence. DockDuty facts are hedged to dockduty-app/app/lib/business-facts.ts. See docs/industry-vocabulary.md before editing.",
"updated": "2026-09-11",
"categories": [
{ "id": "umbrella", "label": "The category" },
{ "id": "facility", "label": "Facilities" },
{ "id": "role", "label": "Roles and actors" },
{ "id": "operation", "label": "Depot operations" },
{ "id": "ownership", "label": "Ownership" },
{ "id": "commercial", "label": "Commercial models and terms" },
{ "id": "vehicle", "label": "Vehicles and networks" },
{ "id": "law", "label": "Law and insurance" }
],
"terms": [
{
"id": "autonomous-fleet-operations",
"term": "Autonomous fleet operations",
"aliases": ["Robotaxi fleet operations", "AV fleet operations", "Autonomous fleet management"],
"category": "umbrella",
"tier": 1,
"definition": "Autonomous fleet operations is the set of recurring tasks that keep a fleet of driverless vehicles in revenue service: energy, cleaning, inspection, staging, dispatch coordination, maintenance coordination, incident response and reporting. In a human-driven fleet most of this work is absorbed by drivers between shifts; in an autonomous fleet it has to be assigned to a depot, a fleet manager or the owner.",
"body": [
"The phrase is the umbrella for everything on this page. Below it sit the facility where the work happens (a robotaxi depot), the company that does the work (a robotaxi depot operator), the functions themselves (the Depot operations section), and the commercial models for buying the work rather than doing it.",
"What is known. Every operator that has published details of its operations runs from dedicated facilities, and they describe the same list of functions: Waymo (itself and through partners), Zoox, and Tesla for its own fleet. What is not settled. Whether a privately owned vehicle will be allowed to join a manufacturer's network at all, and on what terms, has not been published by any manufacturer as of September 2026, so the owner-side half of this vocabulary describes a planned market rather than an operating one."
],
"related": ["robotaxi-depot", "robotaxi-depot-operator", "robotaxi-fleet-management", "depot-as-a-service", "privately-owned-robotaxi"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/what-is-an-av-depot.html", "label": "What a robotaxi depot does, across every fleet" },
{ "href": "/robotaxi-depot-operator.html", "label": "Who does what in robotaxi operations" }
]
},
{
"id": "robotaxi-depot",
"term": "Robotaxi depot",
"aliases": ["AV depot", "Autonomous vehicle depot", "Robotaxi hub", "Autonomous fleet facility"],
"category": "facility",
"tier": 1,
"definition": "A robotaxi depot is a facility where autonomous ride-hailing vehicles are parked, charged, cleaned, inspected and staged between rides. It replaces the between-shift work a human driver used to do at home, and it is where a driverless fleet returns when it is not carrying passengers.",
"body": [
"Also written AV depot, autonomous vehicle depot and, in press coverage, robotaxi hub. The terms are interchangeable; the canonical explanation on this site is the guide linked below, which covers the category across every fleet rather than one manufacturer. A Cybercab depot is the same facility type applied to Tesla's purpose-built two-seat vehicle, and has its own page because the vehicle changes the power design, the stall geometry and how a car is moved by hand.",
"Scale in 2026. Public examples run from a 50,000-square-foot Uber site in Houston to a 190,000-square-foot Zoox facility in Las Vegas; the large ones are wired for multi-megawatt utility service. Every one of those serves a fleet the network owns or contracts. A depot that takes in vehicles owned by individuals is a planned model, not an operating one, as of September 2026."
],
"related": ["cybercab-depot", "robotaxi-depot-operator", "mobility-hub", "depot-charging", "stall"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/what-is-an-av-depot.html", "label": "What is a robotaxi depot? The 2026 guide" },
{ "href": "/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-robotaxi-depot.html", "label": "What it costs to build one" }
]
},
{
"id": "cybercab-depot",
"term": "Cybercab depot",
"aliases": ["Tesla Cybercab depot"],
"category": "facility",
"tier": 3,
"definition": "A Cybercab depot is a robotaxi depot built for Tesla Cybercabs specifically: the parking, charging, cleaning, staging and between-ride operations the vehicle needs, designed around a car that has no steering wheel and, per Tesla's stated design, no charge port.",
"body": [
"The full definition, the nine jobs a depot does and the twelve most-asked questions live on the dedicated page, which is the canonical reference for this term on this site."
],
"related": ["robotaxi-depot", "inductive-charging", "stall", "staging"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/cybercab-depot.html", "label": "What is a Cybercab depot? (canonical page)" }
]
},
{
"id": "mobility-hub",
"term": "Mobility hub",
"aliases": ["Robotaxi mobility hub", "Fleet hub"],
"category": "facility",
"tier": 1,
"definition": "In transit planning, a mobility hub is a location where several modes of transport connect. In the robotaxi industry the phrase is increasingly used for a facility that supports autonomous fleet operations, including charging, staging and servicing, sometimes with rider pickup on site. The two meanings overlap but are not the same.",
"body": [
"Why it is on this list. On September 3, 2026, Tesla opened a fleet interest form at tesla.com/robotaxi/interest whose options included \"mobility hubs and infrastructure\". The form does not define the phrase, does not describe a program and does not state terms. It is the first public signal that Tesla is asking about infrastructure interest beyond its own fleet; the form does not say who would supply it. It is also why an owner searching for the term in 2026 may be looking for something quite different from a transit interchange.",
"How this site uses it. A depot is a mobility hub's back-of-house. When a facility also handles rider pickup, curb management or multi-modal connections it is doing more than a depot does. DockDuty describes what it is building as a depot, not a mobility hub, because rider-facing functions are not part of the plan."
],
"related": ["robotaxi-depot", "charging-infrastructure", "fleet-parking", "robotaxi-depot-operator"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/robotaxi-depot-operator.html#infrastructure", "label": "The infrastructure side: hubs, charging, parking" },
{ "href": "/blog/cybercab-fleet-checklist.html", "label": "What has to be true before a Cybercab joins a fleet" }
]
},
{
"id": "charging-infrastructure",
"term": "Fleet charging infrastructure",
"aliases": ["Fleet charging", "Depot charging capacity"],
"category": "facility",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Fleet charging infrastructure is the electrical service, transformers, conduit and chargers a depot needs to keep a fleet at target state of charge. The binding constraint is almost always the utility service rather than the chargers: a fast-charging bank for a large fleet needs a service upgrade, and transformer lead times reported in 2026 run twelve to eighteen months.",
"related": ["depot-charging", "charging-window", "transformer-lead-time", "inductive-charging"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/how-do-robotaxis-charge.html", "label": "How robotaxis charge" },
{ "href": "/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-robotaxi-depot.html", "label": "The power cost stack" }
]
},
{
"id": "fleet-parking",
"term": "Fleet parking",
"aliases": ["Robotaxi parking", "Secured fleet parking"],
"category": "facility",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Fleet parking for autonomous vehicles is secured, assigned space where a driverless vehicle can sit between rides: a fenced perimeter, controlled gate, cameras with retained footage and, at a depot, one assigned stall per vehicle. It differs from ordinary parking because the vehicle has to be findable, retrievable and insured while unattended.",
"related": ["stall", "staging", "garage-keeper-coverage", "robotaxi-depot"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/where-to-park-your-fleet-of-cybercabs.html", "label": "Where to park a fleet of Cybercabs" },
{ "href": "/cybercab-depot.html#parking", "label": "Parking and staging at a depot" }
]
},
{
"id": "operations-facility",
"term": "Fleet operations facility",
"aliases": ["Operations center", "Fleet ops facility"],
"category": "facility",
"tier": 3,
"definition": "A fleet operations facility is the general term for a site that services a commercial vehicle fleet. In autonomous ride-hailing the specific term is depot; \"operations facility\" is used mostly in zoning documents, leases and press releases.",
"related": ["robotaxi-depot", "mobility-hub"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/what-is-an-av-depot.html", "label": "The depot, defined" }
]
},
{
"id": "robotaxi-depot-operator",
"term": "Robotaxi depot operator",
"aliases": ["Cybercab depot operator", "Depot operator", "AV depot operator"],
"category": "role",
"tier": 1,
"definition": "A robotaxi depot operator is a company that runs the physical ground operations for an autonomous ride-hailing fleet at a fixed facility: parking, charging, cleaning, inspection, staging, maintenance coordination and incident response. The operator may be the vehicle's manufacturer or network (first-party) or an independent company working under contract (third-party).",
"body": [
"The distinction that matters is between the company that touches the car and the company that only sees it. A depot operator signs a lease, buys chargers and employs people; fleet-management software schedules and reports. One company can do both.",
"Who does it today. Tesla builds and runs depots for the fleet it owns; Waymo contracts depot and fleet operations to partners such as Moove, Avis Budget Group and Lyft's Flexdrive in different cities; Zoox runs its own; Uber has leased a Houston depot for its 2027 launch; Hertz's Oro Mobility affiliate has partnered with Uber to charge, clean, maintain and staff depots for Uber's robotaxis, starting in the San Francisco Bay Area. All of them serve fleets the network or platform owns. DockDuty is developing a third-party depot operator model intended for privately owned vehicles, with a first depot targeted for Orlando in Q4 2026 and none operating yet."
],
"related": ["first-party-depot", "third-party-depot", "robotaxi-fleet-manager", "charging-operator", "robotaxi-depot-company"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/robotaxi-depot-operator.html", "label": "What is a robotaxi depot operator? Roles, functions and named companies" },
{ "href": "/blog/how-to-vet-a-robotaxi-depot-company.html", "label": "How to vet one" }
]
},
{
"id": "robotaxi-depot-company",
"term": "Robotaxi depot company",
"aliases": [],
"category": "role",
"tier": 3,
"definition": "A robotaxi depot company is a business whose product is depot operations for driverless vehicles. The phrase is a commercial synonym for robotaxi depot operator and is used when the question is which company to contract rather than what the role is.",
"related": ["robotaxi-depot-operator", "depot-as-a-service"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/robotaxi-depot-company.html", "label": "DockDuty as a robotaxi depot company: what it does, costs and has not built yet" }
]
},
{
"id": "first-party-depot",
"term": "First-party depot",
"aliases": ["Manufacturer-operated depot", "Network-operated depot"],
"category": "role",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "A first-party depot is one built and operated by the company that owns or dispatches the fleet, such as a manufacturer running depots for its own robotaxis. It is the counterpart of a third-party depot, which is run by an independent company under contract.",
"related": ["third-party-depot", "robotaxi-depot-operator"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/third-party-cybercab-depot.html#three-parties", "label": "Manufacturer, owner, depot operator: who does what" }
]
},
{
"id": "third-party-depot",
"term": "Third-party depot",
"aliases": ["Third-party Cybercab depot", "Independent depot operator", "Third-party robotaxi management"],
"category": "role",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "A third-party depot is a robotaxi depot run by an independent company that is neither the vehicle's manufacturer or network nor its owner. \"Third-party\" describes who holds the keys, not a different kind of building; it is the only version of a depot an individual owner can buy rather than build.",
"related": ["first-party-depot", "robotaxi-depot-operator", "privately-owned-robotaxi", "depot-as-a-service"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/third-party-cybercab-depot.html", "label": "Who manages a privately owned Cybercab?" }
]
},
{
"id": "robotaxi-fleet-manager",
"term": "Fleet manager (robotaxi)",
"aliases": ["Autonomous fleet manager", "Fleet operations manager"],
"category": "role",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "A robotaxi fleet manager monitors a fleet's vehicles and coordinates the work on them: which cars are charged, clean, due for service or flagged, and when each returns to service. The role can be a person on a depot floor, a company contracted by a network, or software that only reports. A fleet manager who does not operate a facility still depends on a depot for the physical work.",
"related": ["robotaxi-fleet-management", "robotaxi-depot-operator", "fleet-monitoring"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/cybercab-fleet-management.html", "label": "Robotaxi fleet management: four models compared" }
]
},
{
"id": "charging-operator",
"term": "Charging operator",
"aliases": ["Fleet charging provider", "Charging network operator"],
"category": "role",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "A charging operator builds and runs the electrical infrastructure a fleet charges on, either at its own hubs or inside another company's depot. Some charging operators serve robotaxi fleets without parking, cleaning or inspecting the vehicles; the depot operator does that part.",
"body": [
"Example: Voltera and Revel, which announced a merger in May 2026, together describe more than 1,000 fast-charging stalls operating or in development across 11 US metros for fleets, ride-hail drivers and robotaxis. That is charging infrastructure, not depot operations, and a fleet still needs the rest of the list."
],
"related": ["charging-infrastructure", "robotaxi-depot-operator", "depot-charging"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/robotaxi-depot-operator.html#companies", "label": "Companies operating or developing this infrastructure" }
]
},
{
"id": "robotaxi-network",
"term": "Robotaxi network",
"aliases": ["Ride-hailing network", "Autonomous ride-hailing platform"],
"category": "role",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "A robotaxi network is the platform that takes ride requests, prices them and dispatches vehicles to riders. The network may own its fleet, contract fleets from partners, or, in a model no manufacturer has yet opened, admit vehicles owned by private individuals. The network dispatches; a depot makes sure the car is ready to be dispatched.",
"related": ["dispatch-coordination", "tesla-network", "privately-owned-robotaxi"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/tesla-network-explained.html", "label": "The Tesla Network: what happened to \"add your car\"?" }
]
},
{
"id": "maintenance-provider",
"term": "Maintenance provider",
"aliases": ["Service center", "Fleet maintenance partner"],
"category": "role",
"tier": 3,
"definition": "A maintenance provider repairs and services fleet vehicles: tires, brakes, sensors, bodywork and warranty work. A depot usually coordinates maintenance rather than performing heavy work on site, so the depot and the service center are typically two different parties.",
"related": ["maintenance-coordination", "robotaxi-depot-operator"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/robotaxi-maintenance-costs.html", "label": "What robotaxi maintenance actually costs" }
]
},
{
"id": "vehicle-intake",
"term": "Vehicle intake",
"aliases": ["Intake inspection", "Onboarding (vehicle)"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Vehicle intake is the process of admitting a vehicle into a depot's care: confirming identity and title, verifying the owner's insurance, recording a documented condition inspection with photographs, and enrolling the vehicle in the depot's systems. It fixes the baseline against which later damage or disputes are judged.",
"related": ["onboarding-fee", "readiness", "garage-keeper-coverage"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/pricing.html#charges", "label": "The intake balance and what it covers" },
{ "href": "/operators.html", "label": "Intake and walk-arounds for fleet operators" }
]
},
{
"id": "turnaround-time",
"term": "Turnaround time",
"aliases": ["Vehicle turnaround", "Depot turnaround"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Turnaround time is the elapsed time between a vehicle arriving at a depot and being ready to re-enter service, covering charging, cleaning, inspection and any staging. Shorter turnarounds raise fleet utilization; charging speed usually sets the floor.",
"related": ["fleet-utilization", "charging-window", "cleaning-cycle", "readiness"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/how-many-rides-does-a-robotaxi-give-per-day.html", "label": "How many rides a robotaxi gives per day" }
]
},
{
"id": "fleet-utilization",
"term": "Fleet utilization",
"aliases": ["Vehicle utilization", "Utilization rate"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Fleet utilization is the share of a vehicle's available hours spent on paid trips. It is the single biggest driver of robotaxi earnings and the number most often overstated in projections: charging, cleaning, inspections and the idle hours between demand peaks take a meaningful share of every day.",
"related": ["turnaround-time", "stall-utilization", "staging", "dispatch-coordination"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/cybercab-earnings-calculator.html", "label": "Run your own utilization assumptions" },
{ "href": "/blog/how-many-rides-does-a-robotaxi-give-per-day.html", "label": "Measured rides per day, 2026" }
]
},
{
"id": "stall-utilization",
"term": "Stall utilization",
"aliases": ["Depot utilization", "Depot occupancy"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Stall utilization is the share of a depot's stalls that are occupied or reserved. It is the depot operator's metric, distinct from fleet utilization, which is the owner's; a full depot with idle cars has high stall utilization and low fleet utilization.",
"related": ["stall", "fleet-utilization", "order-book"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/order-book.html", "label": "DockDuty's public stall count" }
]
},
{
"id": "stall",
"term": "Stall",
"aliases": ["Depot stall", "Assigned stall"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "A stall is one assigned parking position at a depot, typically with charging access, reserved for a specific vehicle rather than drawn from a shared pool. Depot capacity and depot pricing are both counted in stalls.",
"related": ["fleet-parking", "stall-utilization", "retainer"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/pricing.html", "label": "What a stall costs a month" }
]
},
{
"id": "depot-charging",
"term": "Depot charging",
"aliases": ["On-site charging", "Fleet charging (operation)"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Depot charging is charging done at the fleet's own facility rather than at public chargers, scheduled around each vehicle's duty cycle so the car is at target state of charge before its next dispatch period. It trades public-charging queue risk and retail energy prices for a fixed electrical build the depot has to fund.",
"related": ["charging-window", "charging-infrastructure", "inductive-charging"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/cybercab-depot.html#charging", "label": "Cybercab depot charging" },
{ "href": "/blog/how-do-robotaxis-charge.html", "label": "How robotaxis charge" }
]
},
{
"id": "charging-window",
"term": "Charging window",
"aliases": ["Charge window"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "A charging window is the period in which a vehicle is scheduled to charge, chosen so that charging does not overlap the hours the vehicle earns most and, where tariffs vary, so that it lands on cheaper power. Managing charging windows across a fleet is a depot function; a single owner with a home charger rarely has to think about it.",
"related": ["depot-charging", "turnaround-time", "fleet-utilization"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/how-do-robotaxis-charge.html", "label": "How robotaxis charge" }
]
},
{
"id": "cleaning-cycle",
"term": "Cleaning cycle",
"aliases": ["Fleet cleaning", "Interior reset"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "A cleaning cycle is the scheduled interior and exterior reset a fleet vehicle receives between rides or blocks of rides. In a driverless vehicle nobody in the front seat notices a spill, and riders rate the car they sit in, so cleaning becomes a scheduled operational task with a direct revenue consequence.",
"related": ["readiness", "turnaround-time"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/cybercab-depot.html#cleaning", "label": "Cleaning and readiness at a depot" }
]
},
{
"id": "readiness",
"term": "Vehicle readiness",
"aliases": ["Service readiness", "Readiness check"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Vehicle readiness is the confirmation, before a vehicle returns to service, that it is fit to carry a passenger: interior reset, no damage, sensors and cameras clean, software current and charge level appropriate to the shift ahead. Doing the check before dispatch is a depot function; discovering the problem after a rider complains is a refund.",
"related": ["cleaning-cycle", "vehicle-intake", "staging"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/cybercab-fleet-management.html", "label": "What readiness covers in DockDuty's service" }
]
},
{
"id": "staging",
"term": "Staging",
"aliases": ["Fleet staging", "Pre-positioning"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Staging is positioning a vehicle where demand is about to be rather than where it happened to finish its last trip, so it starts a period near riders instead of driving empty to reach them. At a depot, staging space is separate from parking stalls: a lot sized for one will not do both.",
"related": ["dispatch-coordination", "fleet-utilization", "fleet-parking"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/cybercab-depot.html#parking", "label": "Parking and staging" }
]
},
{
"id": "dispatch-coordination",
"term": "Dispatch coordination",
"aliases": ["Dispatch", "Dispatch operations", "Dispatch readiness"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Dispatch coordination is making a vehicle available to a ride-hailing network at the right time, in the right place, in a ready state, and withdrawing it when utilization does not justify the miles. The network itself dispatches the car to riders; the depot's job is to ensure it is charged, clean and positioned when that happens.",
"related": ["robotaxi-network", "staging", "fleet-monitoring"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/cybercab-fleet-management.html", "label": "Dispatch coordination in practice" }
]
},
{
"id": "incident-response",
"term": "Incident response",
"aliases": ["Fleet incident response"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Incident response is the human process behind a driverless vehicle when something goes wrong: a collision, a mechanical fault, a stranded car, a rider complaint or a tow. It covers who is called, in what order, how the event is documented and how the owner is informed. A defined response window, written down, is what separates an operator from a parking lot.",
"related": ["remote-assistance", "fleet-monitoring", "garage-keeper-coverage"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/what-happens-when-a-cybercab-gets-stuck.html", "label": "What happens when a Cybercab gets stuck" },
{ "href": "/cybercab-depot.html#what-happens", "label": "Incident response as one of a depot's nine jobs" }
]
},
{
"id": "remote-assistance",
"term": "Remote assistance",
"aliases": ["Remote operations", "Teleassistance"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Remote assistance is a network's human-in-the-loop support for a driverless vehicle that encounters a situation it cannot resolve: an operator reviews the scene and gives guidance or a limited command. It is a network function, not a depot one, and it does not physically retrieve a car; that is incident response.",
"related": ["incident-response", "robotaxi-network"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/what-happens-when-a-cybercab-gets-stuck.html", "label": "Remote assistance and the 10 mph limit" }
]
},
{
"id": "maintenance-coordination",
"term": "Maintenance coordination",
"aliases": ["Service coordination"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Maintenance coordination is noticing that a vehicle needs service, booking it, getting the car to the service center and back, and recording the work, without the owner having to be present. It is distinct from performing the repair, which usually happens at a manufacturer or third-party service center.",
"related": ["maintenance-provider", "readiness"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/robotaxi-maintenance-costs.html", "label": "Robotaxi maintenance costs" }
]
},
{
"id": "fleet-monitoring",
"term": "Fleet monitoring",
"aliases": ["Telemetry", "Owner telemetry", "Remote fleet management"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Fleet monitoring is the continuous view of where each vehicle is, what state it is in and what it has done, drawn from vehicle telemetry and depot records. For a remote owner it is the reporting layer that makes a depot arrangement verifiable rather than a matter of trust.",
"related": ["dispatch-coordination", "owner-reporting", "remote-ownership"],
"links": [
{ "href": "https://app.dockduty.com/demo", "label": "A live owner dashboard, running on sample data" }
]
},
{
"id": "owner-reporting",
"term": "Owner reporting",
"aliases": ["Owner statement", "Monthly statement"],
"category": "operation",
"tier": 3,
"definition": "Owner reporting is the periodic statement a depot or fleet manager produces for a vehicle owner: trips, gross revenue, fees deducted, charging sessions, incidents and net paid out, in a form the owner can reconcile.",
"related": ["fleet-monitoring", "service-fee"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/cybercab-fleet-management.html", "label": "Reporting in DockDuty's service" }
]
},
{
"id": "privately-owned-robotaxi",
"term": "Privately owned robotaxi",
"aliases": ["Privately owned Cybercab", "Customer-owned robotaxi", "Owner-supplied vehicle"],
"category": "ownership",
"tier": 1,
"definition": "A privately owned robotaxi is an autonomous ride-hailing vehicle whose title is held by an individual or a business other than the manufacturer or the network that dispatches it. As of September 2026 no manufacturer has published terms under which a privately owned vehicle can join a driverless ride-hailing network, so the category is anticipated rather than operating.",
"body": [
"What is known. Tesla has said since 2016 that owners would be able to add their cars to a Tesla ride-hailing network, and its September 3, 2026 fleet interest form asked about fleet vehicle purchasing. What is not. Eligibility, the revenue split, insurance requirements, whether the owner's location matters, and timing. Every projection about owner economics on this site assumes a program that has not launched.",
"The owner-side vocabulary follows from this term: a fleet owner holds several such vehicles; owner services are what a third party does for them; and remote ownership is the case where the owner and the vehicle are in different places."
],
"related": ["fleet-owner", "owner-services", "remote-ownership", "tesla-network", "third-party-depot"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/owning-a-cybercab-as-a-fleet-vehicle.html", "label": "Owning a Cybercab as a fleet vehicle: a primer" },
{ "href": "/blog/can-you-buy-a-tesla-cybercab.html", "label": "Can you buy a Cybercab yet? Every confirmed fact, dated" }
]
},
{
"id": "fleet-owner",
"term": "Fleet owner (robotaxi)",
"aliases": ["Cybercab fleet owner", "Robotaxi fleet owner", "Autonomous vehicle fleet owner"],
"category": "ownership",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "A robotaxi fleet owner holds title to more than one autonomous ride-hailing vehicle, whether as an individual, an LLC or an operating company, and either runs the operations or contracts them out. A single-vehicle owner is usually called a Cybercab owner or robotaxi owner; the economics of both change around the second or third car, which is where self-operation stops scaling.",
"related": ["privately-owned-robotaxi", "owner-services", "depot-as-a-service"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/should-you-put-your-cybercab-in-an-llc.html", "label": "Should you put your Cybercab in an LLC?" },
{ "href": "/operators.html", "label": "Depot operations for fleets of five and up" }
]
},
{
"id": "owner-services",
"term": "Owner services (robotaxi)",
"aliases": ["Cybercab owner services", "Robotaxi owner services"],
"category": "ownership",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Robotaxi owner services are the operational tasks a third party performs for the owner of an autonomous vehicle: parking, charging, cleaning, readiness, staging, dispatch coordination, incident response, maintenance coordination and reporting. The phrase describes the service from the owner's side; \"fleet management\" describes the same work from the operator's.",
"related": ["robotaxi-fleet-management", "third-party-depot", "privately-owned-robotaxi"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/cybercab-fleet-management.html", "label": "What DockDuty handles, and what stays the owner's" }
]
},
{
"id": "remote-ownership",
"term": "Remote ownership",
"aliases": ["Remote fleet ownership", "Own from anywhere", "Out-of-state ownership"],
"category": "ownership",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Remote ownership is holding title to a robotaxi that operates in a different city, state or country from the owner, with a depot operator handling the physical work and a dashboard providing visibility. A third-party depot removes the operational reason an owner has to live near the vehicle; it cannot remove network rules that have not been written yet.",
"related": ["privately-owned-robotaxi", "third-party-depot", "fleet-monitoring"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/can-you-own-a-robotaxi-in-another-state.html", "label": "Can you own a robotaxi in another state?" }
]
},
{
"id": "robotaxi-fleet-management",
"term": "Robotaxi fleet management",
"aliases": ["Cybercab fleet management", "AV fleet management"],
"category": "commercial",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Robotaxi fleet management is the ongoing coordination of a fleet's vehicles: monitoring state, scheduling charging and cleaning, coordinating maintenance and dispatch, handling incidents and reporting to the owner. It can be done by the owner, bought as software that reports but does not touch the car, or bought as a service from a depot operator that does both.",
"related": ["robotaxi-fleet-manager", "owner-services", "revenue-share-depot", "flat-fee-operator", "depot-as-a-service"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/cybercab-fleet-management.html", "label": "Robotaxi fleet management: four models compared" },
{ "href": "/cybercab-fleet-management.html", "label": "Cybercab fleet management as DockDuty's service" }
]
},
{
"id": "depot-as-a-service",
"term": "Depot-as-a-service",
"aliases": ["DaaS (depot)", "Depot capacity as a service"],
"category": "commercial",
"tier": 1,
"definition": "Depot-as-a-service is a commercial model in which a vehicle owner rents depot capacity and operations per vehicle, typically as a monthly fee per stall plus a share of ride revenue, instead of leasing land, installing chargers and hiring staff. The owner keeps the vehicle and its title; the operator supplies the site, the power and the people.",
"body": [
"Why the model exists. Depot capacity built for ride-hailing platforms is funded and sized for fleets of hundreds; nobody in that tier sells one stall. Building a depot yourself rarely pencils for a single owner or a small fleet once land, a transformer and a payroll are counted. Depot-as-a-service is the retail layer between those two facts.",
"Example, labelled. DockDuty's published model is a monthly retainer per stall plus a per-ride service fee, both stepping down with fleet size, with charging electricity included in the retainer and month-to-month exit. No DockDuty depot is operating as of September 2026; the rates are published and the reservation is a refundable deposit, not a running service."
],
"related": ["revenue-share-depot", "retainer", "service-fee", "stall", "third-party-depot"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/pricing.html", "label": "DockDuty's rate card, every fee in one place" },
{ "href": "/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-robotaxi-depot.html", "label": "The build-it alternative, costed" }
]
},
{
"id": "revenue-share-depot",
"term": "Revenue-share depot",
"aliases": ["Revenue-share model"],
"category": "commercial",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "A revenue-share depot charges a small fixed retainer plus a percentage of what each vehicle earns, so the operator's income rises and falls with the owner's. It is one of four ways a privately owned robotaxi can be run, alongside self-operation, a flat-fee operator and an SPV or equity structure.",
"related": ["flat-fee-operator", "spv-structure", "depot-as-a-service", "service-fee"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/cybercab-fleet-management.html", "label": "The four models, side by side" }
]
},
{
"id": "flat-fee-operator",
"term": "Flat-fee operator",
"aliases": ["Fixed-fee fleet manager"],
"category": "commercial",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "A flat-fee operator manages a vehicle for a fixed monthly charge, often with per-mile fees on top, regardless of what the vehicle earns. The owner carries the whole of a lean month; the operator's income does not move with utilization.",
"related": ["revenue-share-depot", "robotaxi-fleet-management"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/cybercab-fleet-management.html", "label": "Flat fee vs revenue share, with the arithmetic" }
]
},
{
"id": "spv-structure",
"term": "SPV / fractional structure",
"aliases": ["Fractional robotaxi investment", "Robotaxi SPV", "Pooled fleet entity"],
"category": "commercial",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "An SPV or fractional structure pools investor money into an entity that owns and operates a fleet; the investor holds units, not a vehicle title. It is an investment product rather than fleet management, with the diligence burden that implies, and it is the model to identify when an offer does not leave the vehicle in your name.",
"related": ["revenue-share-depot", "privately-owned-robotaxi"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/fractional-robotaxi-investment-vs-owning.html", "label": "Fractional shares vs owning the car: the title test" }
]
},
{
"id": "retainer",
"term": "Retainer (per stall)",
"aliases": ["Monthly retainer", "Stall fee"],
"category": "commercial",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "A per-stall retainer is the fixed monthly charge for a vehicle's place at a depot, covering the stall, on-site charging and the recurring operational work. In a revenue-share model it sits alongside a per-ride service fee; what it does and does not include should be written into the agreement rather than the marketing.",
"related": ["service-fee", "stall", "depot-as-a-service"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/pricing.html#included", "label": "What DockDuty's retainer covers, and what it does not" }
]
},
{
"id": "service-fee",
"term": "Service fee (per ride)",
"aliases": ["Ride percentage", "Take rate (depot)"],
"category": "commercial",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "A per-ride service fee is the percentage of each trip's revenue a depot or fleet manager keeps in a revenue-share model. It is separate from whatever the ride-hailing network itself takes, which for a privately owned robotaxi has not been published by any manufacturer as of September 2026.",
"related": ["retainer", "revenue-share-depot", "tesla-network"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/what-cut-does-tesla-take-from-robotaxi-owners.html", "label": "What cut does Tesla take? One 2019 number, then silence" }
]
},
{
"id": "onboarding-fee",
"term": "Onboarding fee",
"aliases": ["Intake fee", "Vehicle onboarding fee"],
"category": "commercial",
"tier": 3,
"definition": "An onboarding fee is a one-time charge for admitting a vehicle into a depot's care, covering intake inspection, documentation and system enrollment. Whether a reservation deposit is credited against it, and whether the fee is capped, are terms to read before paying.",
"related": ["vehicle-intake", "reservation-deposit"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/pricing.html#charges", "label": "The four charges, with caps" }
]
},
{
"id": "reservation-deposit",
"term": "Reservation deposit",
"aliases": ["Stall deposit", "Refundable deposit"],
"category": "commercial",
"tier": 3,
"definition": "A reservation deposit holds a stall in a depot that is not yet open. The terms that matter are whether it is refundable at will, how quickly a refund is initiated, what happens if the depot never opens, and whether the money sits apart from the operator's working capital.",
"related": ["order-book", "onboarding-fee"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/pricing.html#refunds", "label": "Refunds, exit and the deadline" },
{ "href": "/blog/how-to-vet-a-robotaxi-depot-company.html", "label": "Ten checks before paying any depot company" }
]
},
{
"id": "order-book",
"term": "Order book (depot)",
"aliases": ["Founding order book", "Public stall count"],
"category": "commercial",
"tier": 3,
"definition": "A depot order book is the running count of stalls reserved against a depot's capacity. Published live, it is a verifiable demand signal; quoted as a marketing number, it is not.",
"related": ["stall-utilization", "reservation-deposit"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/order-book.html", "label": "DockDuty's public order book" }
]
},
{
"id": "transformer-lead-time",
"term": "Transformer lead time",
"aliases": ["Utility service upgrade lead time"],
"category": "commercial",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Transformer lead time is the wait for the utility equipment that steps grid power down to charger voltage. Lead times reported in 2026 run twelve to eighteen months, which makes power, not construction or zoning, the long pole in most depot schedules and the reason depot capacity is reserved before it opens.",
"related": ["charging-infrastructure", "depot-charging"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-robotaxi-depot.html", "label": "How much does it cost to build a robotaxi depot?" }
]
},
{
"id": "tesla-network",
"term": "Tesla Network",
"aliases": ["Tesla Robotaxi network", "Add your car to the fleet"],
"category": "vehicle",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "The Tesla Network is the name Tesla used from 2016 for a planned ride-hailing network to which owners could add their own vehicles. In 2025 and 2026 Tesla launched a Robotaxi service using vehicles it owns; the owner-participation program has been described repeatedly but its terms have not been published as of September 2026.",
"related": ["robotaxi-network", "privately-owned-robotaxi", "unsupervised-fsd"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/tesla-network-explained.html", "label": "The Tesla Network: what happened to \"add your car\"?" },
{ "href": "/blog/what-cut-does-tesla-take-from-robotaxi-owners.html", "label": "What cut does Tesla take?" }
]
},
{
"id": "unsupervised-fsd",
"term": "Unsupervised FSD",
"aliases": ["Driverless FSD", "FSD Unsupervised"],
"category": "vehicle",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Unsupervised FSD is Tesla's term for its Full Self-Driving software operating with no human in the driver's seat, as opposed to supervised FSD, which requires an attentive driver. It is the vehicle-side capability a robotaxi depends on and is live only in the cities where Tesla operates its own driverless service.",
"related": ["tesla-network", "service-area"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/what-is-unsupervised-fsd.html", "label": "Unsupervised FSD: where it is actually live" }
]
},
{
"id": "inductive-charging",
"term": "Inductive charging",
"aliases": ["Wireless charging", "Pad charging"],
"category": "vehicle",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Inductive charging transfers energy to a vehicle through a pad it parks over rather than a cable. Tesla has stated the production Cybercab is designed to charge this way with no charge port; final production hardware and pad specifications are not public, and validation vehicles have been photographed with a temporary NACS port. A depot planned for it is planned around electrical capacity rather than one connector.",
"related": ["depot-charging", "charging-infrastructure", "cybercab-depot"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/how-do-robotaxis-charge.html", "label": "Wireless pads, hidden ports and the depot power problem" },
{ "href": "/blog/tesla-cybercab-specs.html", "label": "Cybercab specs from the EPA filing" }
]
},
{
"id": "service-area",
"term": "Service area (robotaxi)",
"aliases": ["Geofence", "Operating zone"],
"category": "vehicle",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "A robotaxi service area is the mapped zone inside which a network will accept and complete rides driverlessly. It is set by the operator and, in some states, by permit; a depot outside the zone costs empty miles every time a car repositions into it.",
"related": ["staging", "fleet-parking"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/robotaxi-map.html", "label": "US robotaxi map: every city with driverless taxis" },
{ "href": "/blog/where-do-robotaxis-operate.html", "label": "Where do robotaxis operate?" }
]
},
{
"id": "garage-keeper-coverage",
"term": "Garage-keeper coverage",
"aliases": ["Garagekeepers insurance", "Bailee coverage"],
"category": "law",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "Garage-keeper coverage is the insurance a facility carries for damage to customers' vehicles while in its care, custody and control. For a depot it is the operator's policy, separate from the owner's commercial policy on the vehicle itself, and whether it is bound is a question to ask an operator directly rather than assume.",
"related": ["tnc-contingent-coverage", "vehicle-intake", "incident-response"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/cybercab-insurance-cost.html", "label": "How much does Cybercab insurance cost?" }
]
},
{
"id": "tnc-contingent-coverage",
"term": "TNC contingent coverage",
"aliases": ["Rideshare contingent liability"],
"category": "law",
"tier": 3,
"definition": "TNC contingent coverage is liability insurance that responds when a vehicle is available to a transportation network company but the network's own policy does not apply. How it maps onto a driverless vehicle owned by a private party is unsettled, because no such vehicle is on a network yet.",
"related": ["garage-keeper-coverage"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/cybercab-insurance-cost.html", "label": "The state of Cybercab coverage" }
]
},
{
"id": "state-preemption",
"term": "State preemption (AV law)",
"aliases": ["AV preemption", "Statewide AV framework"],
"category": "law",
"tier": 2,
"definition": "State preemption in autonomous-vehicle law means the state sets the rules for driverless operation and bars cities from adding their own. Florida's ยง 316.85 and Texas's SB 2205 are the worked examples. Preemption governs the vehicle on the road; it does not reach zoning, so a city can still say no to the lot.",
"related": ["robotaxi-depot", "service-area"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/robotaxi-laws-by-state.html", "label": "Robotaxi laws by state" },
{ "href": "/blog/florida-robotaxi-law.html", "label": "Why Florida became robotaxi country" }
]
},
{
"id": "dangerous-instrumentality",
"term": "Dangerous instrumentality doctrine",
"aliases": ["Florida vehicle owner liability"],
"category": "law",
"tier": 3,
"definition": "The dangerous instrumentality doctrine is a Florida rule under which a vehicle's owner can be held liable for harm caused by its operation, even when someone else is operating it. How courts will apply it to a driverless vehicle is untested, which is one reason owners look at holding a robotaxi in an LLC.",
"related": ["fleet-owner", "garage-keeper-coverage"],
"links": [
{ "href": "/blog/should-you-put-your-cybercab-in-an-llc.html", "label": "Should you put your Cybercab in an LLC?" }
]
}
]
}