Waymo's Rider Data Just Dropped a Truth Bomb: Tesla's Cybercab Lookin' Like a Genius Move!

TL;DR: Waymo just dropped some Q3 2025 rider data showing 90% of their robotaxi trips carry two passengers or less. This juicy tidbit inadvertently validates Tesla's controversial two-seat Cybercab strategy as a shrewd move for future profitability and scalability.

Meta: Waymo's rider data showing low occupancy rates validates Tesla's two-seat Cybercab design strategy.

Alright, folks, gather 'round, because sometimes the best jokes aren't even told on stage, they're revealed in a spreadsheet! We've all seen Tesla's Cybercab, right? That sleek, wheel-less, two-seater that looked like it jumped straight out of a sci-fi movie and had everybody scratching their heads, wondering, "Who's gonna ride in that thing?" Well, it turns out, Waymo, one of Tesla's biggest rivals in the autonomous game, just dropped some data that makes Elon Musk look like a psychic.

Karim Dia Toubajie, a Lead Product Designer from Toyota Connected Europe, was digging through Waymo's Q3 2025 occupancy stats, and what did he find? A shocking 90% of robotaxi trips had two passengers or less. And if you narrow it down, 75% were for a solo rider. I mean, c'mon, that's like buying a seven-seater minivan just to drive your cat to the vet! Waymo's using these massive vehicles, rolling around with mostly empty seats, while Tesla's Cybercab, initially mocked for its compact, two-person design, is suddenly looking like the smartest kid in class. Who's laughing now?

The Unintended Validation

This ain't just some random observation, this is gold, Jerry, gold! Toubajie's analysis, shared on LinkedIn, basically shouted what some of us were thinking: "Why are we using 5-seater vehicles when 90% of trips have 2 or less passengers?" He even went further, saying 71% were just one person. That's a whole lot of wasted space and wasted energy. Imagine all that extra battery power just hauling around air! That's like carrying a spare tire for your bicycle, just in case.

When Tesla first unveiled the Cybercab last year, the internet had a field day. "Where's the trunk?" "What if I wanna bring my whole crew?" Well, the data suggests most people just want a ride, not a party bus. This insight into actual rider behavior is a massive validation for Tesla's approach. They're not just building cars; they're building a system that's lean, mean, and perfectly suited for the real demand of ride-hailing. It's about optimizing efficiency, not just maximizing seating capacity for that one time you take your entire extended family to the airport.

Production Power Play

Beyond just efficiency, this two-seater strategy has huge implications for production. Elon Musk has hinted that the Cybercab's production line would resemble a consumer electronics factory, not a traditional automotive plant. Think about it: fewer materials, simpler design, faster assembly. If you're building a vehicle designed for mass deployment, you want it to be as easy to crank out as a new smartphone, not a luxury yacht. This approach means Tesla could saturate cities with Cybercabs at a pace that traditional automakers can only dream of. While other companies are still trying to figure out how to put a driver in the back seat, Tesla might already be on its 100,000th Cybercab.

And for those rare occasions when you do need to haul more than two people, Tesla already has the Model 3 and Model Y. These mass-market vehicles can easily step in to cover the remaining 10% of trips requiring more space, without Tesla having to build a dedicated, underutilized 5-seater robotaxi. It's a modular, flexible strategy that makes perfect sense when you're trying to re-invent urban transportation. It's like having a full band, but only bringing out the lead singer for the acoustic sets—you use what you need when you need it.

What’s Next

This data insight could be a game-changer for how the entire autonomous vehicle industry approaches design and deployment. If Waymo, with its larger fleet, is seeing these occupancy numbers, it suggests that the optimal robotaxi isn't necessarily a full-sized sedan or SUV. Competitors might need to re-evaluate their own strategies, potentially leading to a wave of smaller, more efficient autonomous vehicles hitting the market. For Tesla, this simply confirms they’re on the right track, and we can expect them to push even harder on the Cybercab's rapid production and deployment plans. We might see other players try to pivot, but catching up to Tesla's vision, now backed by real-world data, is gonna be a steep climb.

Looks like Tesla was just a little ahead of the curve, proving once again that sometimes, the future is smaller than you think. And that, my friends, is no joke.

Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go find me a robotaxi... for one. Because I like to stretch out, you dig?