Tesla’s next-gen AI5 chip slips to 2027, casting doubt on a 2026 steering-less Robotaxi

Tesla’s next-generation AI5 chip won’t be put into its EVs until ‘mid-2027’, which means the upcoming Cybercab robotaxi will likely launch using the current AI4 hardware.

Tesla announced the AI5 chip several months back and has since shared some exciting updates about its capabilities. 

The new hardware will be significantly more powerful than the current AI4 chips that the carmaker has been using since 2024. 

The chips will be used to power Tesla’s self-driving cars, and were expected to be introduced into the Cybercabs, but now that looks less likely.

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The Tesla AI5 chip won’t be produced ‘in volume’ for a while

The Tesla robotaxi, known as the Cybercab, was unveiled to much fanfare at the We, Robot event in October last year. 

The carmaker introduced 20 prototypes of the vehicle, allowing people their first look at the cars. 

Inside, the upcoming autonomous vehicles had no steering wheels or pedals. 

“No mirrors, no pedals, no steering wheel,” Musk said at the time. 

“Let me be clear. This vehicle must be designed as a clean robotaxi.”

Production of the Cybercab is slated for Q2 of next year, Musk recently confirmed at a shareholder meeting. 

However, Musk has also recently confirmed that the next-generation AI5 chips, which will be key for introducing true unsupervised autonomous driving, won’t be produced in sufficient volume until mid-2027. 

“AI5 will not be available in sufficient volume to switch over Tesla production lines until mid 2027, as we need several hundred thousand completed AI5 boards line side,” he said in a post on X. 

The new timeline appears to suggest that the Cybercab will now initially launch using the current-generation AI4 technology. 

If that is the case, it means the EVs won’t have an unsupervised level of autonomy, and it also means the Cybercabs will potentially need pedals and steering wheels.

And it seems as though this scenario is something Tesla execs have already considered. 

Last month, Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm hinted that the company might add traditional controls, saying the car could include ‘a steering wheel and pedals — if we have to’.

AI5 isn’t here yet, but AI6 is already being ‘worked on’

Although the AI5 chip isn’t here yet and is still months away from mass production, Musk has already hinted at upcoming newer technology. 

In the same X post in which he revealed AI5 chips wouldn’t be ready until 2027, he announced that he was ‘starting to do some work on AI6 too’. 

For now, there are no further details on the AI6 chip, so it seems folks will just have to wait and see.

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