Tesla has revealed that its Cybercab production line is already capable of building vehicles faster than the company can deploy them, offering a new look at the progress of its autonomous vehicle manufacturing program.
The update came during a Munro Live factory tour, where Tesla executives and engineers provided an extensive breakdown of the Cybercab and its unconventional manufacturing process.
During the tour, Tesla’s Lars Moravy explained that the company is not currently operating the production line every day because its manufacturing capabilities have moved ahead of the pace of vehicle deployments.
“We actually, we don’t run every day because the line can run so fast. It’s currently outpacing our our deployments,” Moravy said.
He added that Tesla’s manufacturing operations are currently ahead in the race between building vehicles and getting them into service.
Tesla also revealed several new details about the production process that make this possible. The Cybercab uses Tesla’s unboxed manufacturing system, which allows major sections of the vehicle to be assembled and tested separately before being brought together.
According to Tesla, approximately 78% of the overall manufacturing process is automated, while the framing line operates with complete automation, including the delivery of components using autonomous mobile robots.
Final assembly is also considerably shorter than Tesla’s existing production lines, requiring just 25 stations. Depending on the factory, a conventional Model Y line can have five to ten times as many stations.
Tesla says the new approach also reduces the amount of factory floor space required per vehicle produced by approximately 50%.
While Tesla has not revealed how many Cybercabs it is currently producing, its latest shareholder deck lists an annual production capacity of more than 125,000 units, and according to Texas records, Tesla has 463 Cybercabs registered with the DMV. These comments suggest Tesla’s immediate challenge is deploying the vehicles it builds, rather than ramping up production.
You can watch the full Cybercab deep dive video below.
Always get the latest - make Drive Tesla your preferred source on Google
Are you buying a Tesla? If you enjoy our content and we helped in your decision, use our referral link to get three months of Full Self-Driving (FSD).Drive Tesla uses affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you make a purchase through them, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.
