A Tesla Cybertruck has been spotted driving along the roads around Giga Texas. The sighting came on the same weekend Cybertruck front castings were spotted at Giga Texas, both being strong indications that the automaker is preparing to begin production very soon.
Outside of the original Cybertruck prototype, which has been taken all the way to New York City to drive through Times Square when Elon Musk hosted Saturday Night Live, the alpha and beta prototypes have only been seen driving around public roads near the company’s engineering headquarters in Palo Alto, California. The sightings in California make sense as the Cybertruck pilot production line is located at Tesla’s Fremont factory, meaning all of the early builds were assembled in the Bay Area. However the home of Cybertruck production will be in Austin, and over the weekend one was spotted driving near the factory in Austin.
The Cybertruck was spotted by Twitter user Dennis B (@ogre_codes), who shared a short video saying it was spotted on a public road, without specifying where. However, it was later determined by local expert and drone pilot Joe Tegtmeyer to be on River Road, which is technically on Giga Texas property.
Tesla spotted cruising around on public roads in Texas. Maybe the first sighting on public roads outside of California? pic.twitter.com/sb16YeeKtc
— Dennis B (@ogre_codes) May 14, 2023
The truck itself wasn’t the only Cybertruck-related development from Giga Texas over the weekend. During one of his routine drone flyovers Tegtmeyer spotted some unusual castings just inside one of the factory’s overhead doors.
14 May 2023 Giga Texas! Happy Mothers Day! Rare Sunday flight due to upcoming Shareholders Day activities. Check out these interesting images of castings … located in the south Stamping section! These do look different to me, but what do you think? Check out my YouTube video… pic.twitter.com/gB6L1TkvhX
— Joe Tegtmeyer 🚀 🤠😎 (@JoeTegtmeyer) May 14, 2023
Unlike another recent sighting we thought was Cybertruck front castings, these castings are definitely different than what is used on the Model Y, and based on a comparison of the only image released by Tesla showing the truck’s front casting, it almost certainly is for the Cybertruck as they both feature the same flowing lines we circled in the images below.
What this sighting means is that at least one of Tesla’s massive 9,000 ton Giga Press machines for the Cybertruck is up and running, and the automaker wants everyone to know. Tesla knows the drone pilots are always flying over the factory, and it is just a little too much of a coincidence that these castings were sitting lined up right by an overhead door that just happened to be open on Sunday.
That also of course means Tesla is getting closer to the start of production, which is expected to begin this summer with an anticipated delivery event late in Q3.
You can watch Joe’s full video from Sunday below. The castings appear at around 12:00.
