TECH · Tech
Game On: Tesla Technician Says an Xbox Controller Moves Cybercab in the Shop
An Austin Tesla owner photographed a Cybercab under repair at a Tesla service center with a cable running from its cabin. He says a technician confirmed the cable led to an Xbox controller used to move the car.
Sam Ellison, Live desk
Published · 3 min read
AUSTIN, Texas - A car with no steering wheel and no pedals still has to get onto a lift. At one Tesla service center, the answer appears to be a video game controller.
Alex, a Tesla Model Y and Model 3 owner from Austin who posts on X as @TeslaInvest2032, wrote on Saturday that he was at a Tesla service center when he spotted a Cybercab being repaired. His photo shows the gold two-seater in a service bay with its butterfly door raised and a cable running from the cabin to a workbench crowded with a laptop, a drill and loose lug nuts. "See that cable? It's an Xbox controller plugged in via USB," he wrote.
Getting the shot took some persistence. When he moved closer, he wrote, staff told him to get back behind the restricted area line. A technician later came over and said he could take photos. Alex had already ridden in a Cybercab, so that was not what interested him. He asked whether the controller was actually used to move the car. "He confirmed yes," Alex wrote.
The post has drawn more than 224,000 views. Robotaxi Radar and TeslaZoa, two accounts that follow Tesla's robotaxi program closely, both shared the photos on Saturday.
It is not the first time a game controller has been linked to the Cybercab. In December 2024, when a Cybercab went on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, the car site autoevolution reported, citing its sources, that an operator used a wired controller resembling an Xbox gamepad to steer and maneuver the car inside the museum. InsideEVs followed with its own report on the method.
Tesla has a second tool for the job built into the car. In September, riders found a hidden manual driving screen on a Cybercab's center display, with a virtual joystick for steering and throttle and buttons for the brake and horn, an interface this site described at the time. Not a Tesla App reported that the screen lets service technicians and validation testers reposition the car, and that the car did not move when a passenger touched it.
The pairing makes sense for a car built to drive itself. Riders never need the controls, while the people who keep the fleet running get simple, familiar tools for the few feet between a parking spot and a lift. Tesla has not commented on the controller, and Alex did not say what repair the Cybercab was in for.
With more than 300 Cybercabs now serving Austin, the road belongs to the software. In the shop, it seems, someone still gets to hold the controller.
