TECH · Tech
Shape Locked In: Tesla Wins a U.S. Design Patent for the Cybercab Body It Filed a Day Before the Big Reveal
Patent D1,151,323 S, granted on 6 October, protects the look of a two-door fastback body drawn by Franz von Holzhausen's team. The application went in on 9 October 2024, the eve of the We, Robot unveiling.
Riley Cho, Live desk
Published · 2 min read
AUSTIN - The shape of the Cybercab now has legal protection in the United States. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Tesla design patent D1,151,323 S, titled "Vehicle body," on 6 October 2026. Its drawings show a two-door body with one large door on each side and a sloping fastback roofline, the silhouette of the robotaxi Tesla has been testing on public roads.
The timing of the filing stands out. Tesla submitted the application on 9 October 2024, one day before it unveiled the Cybercab at its We, Robot event in Burbank, California. Filing first meant the design was on record before the car was shown to the world.
Tesla design chief Franz von Holzhausen is listed as the lead inventor, alongside Julien Bilodeau, Bernard G. Lee and Joseph Robinson, according to the patent's front page. The applicant and assignee is Tesla, Inc., of Austin, Texas.
A design patent covers how a product looks, not how it works. This one makes a single claim: "The ornamental design for a vehicle body, as shown and described." The wheels are drawn in dashed lines, which marks them as context rather than part of the protected design, so the claim rests on the body itself.
The grant runs to 28 figures covering two versions of the design, with front, rear, side, top, bottom and perspective views of each. The patent's description says the body can belong to "a car, a taxi, or other automotive vehicle." It does not use the Cybercab name, but the drawings match the car Tesla revealed in 2024.
The term is 15 years from the grant date, which keeps the design protected into 2041.
The grant was first flagged on X on Tuesday by Chansoo Byeon, who posted the patent's front page and the full set of drawings. The Tesla watcher Ming, who posts as @tslaming, highlighted it again late Wednesday, pointing to the one-day gap between the filing and the reveal.
It lands in a busy week for the car. Tesla is bringing the Cybercab to the Paris Motor Show for its first European showing, Automotive News reported, and Drive Tesla Canada counted nearly 200 Cybercabs in Houston as testing there ramps up.
With more of the cars reaching public roads, the patent gives Tesla a clear legal claim to the look that has made the Cybercab one of the most recognisable vehicles on the street.
