Instead Of A Steering Wheel, The Tesla Cybercab Uses An On-Screen Joystick For Emergencies

As of Friday, Tesla Cybercab robotaxis are now officially on the road, and while Tesla touts them as "fully autonomous," people have already uncovered a hidden control panel that would appear to let you drive 'em manually in the event of an emergency. And because Cybercabs don't have any steering wheels or pedals, it's just a "joystick" in the touchscreen.

Autonomous driving aficionados Matthew Skrzypczak and David Moss both posted videos to X on Monday of the hidden mode, showing a gray box in the bottom left of the Cybercab's touchscreen UI that supposedly lets you control the car manually. Neither Skrzypczak nor Moss were able to use the box to move the robotaxis around, but just looking at the layout, it seems that you'd swipe the joystick section up and down to go forward and back, and left and right to turn — a bit like a mobile driving game on your phone whose developers couldn't figure out motion controls. There are also buttons on the left that let you stop and honk the horn.

According to InsideEVs, citing Tesla's official manual for first responders, the Cybercab is indeed supposed to have onboard manual controls for emergency use, and first responders are to call Tesla support and show their badge to get access to the function.

Weird #cybercab situation! When I got in the vehicle, the display was in a different configuration with a virtual joystick for manual driving! I have a feeling I wasn't supposed to see this... but I try to manually drive the vehicle anyway! 😂 @wholemars @DirtyTesLa @DavidMoss... pic.twitter.com/mQsoDFDbEJ

— Matthew Skrzypczak (@MatthewSkrzypc1) September 7, 2026

I can confidently say I am the closest person from the public to being able to drive a Tesla Cybercab 😂

So close yet so far

The vehicle arrived in some sort of mode I think it goes into at a supercharger for manual assistance

I couldn't use any apps & the left repeater... pic.twitter.com/6lmWE6V8cT

— David Moss (@DavidMoss) September 8, 2026

Skrzypczak's video appears to show camera views stuck on when the Cybercab was at a Supercharger, and Superchargers can also be seen in the cameras of the robotaxi Moss was in, leading both to point out that proximity to Superchargers likely has something to do with the joystick mode's appearance. Having a quick manual-drive mode for when, say, a Tesla employee just needs to stick it into a charger instead of waiting for the autonomous driving to figure it out makes practical sense, after all.

What doesn't make practical sense, of course, is launching your robotaxi service without official safety certification. After Cybercabs were unleashed in Austin, Texas, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration immediately launched an investigation into whether they're safe enough for road use. And as if being Tesla's latest instance of using the public as lab rats for its latest autonomous road hazards weren't enough, the things sort of look like ass.

Anyway, at least now you know that if you ever find yourself in duress and absolutely needing to move in a Cybercab, you'll be able to *checks notes* call Tesla, make your case, and "Asphalt Legends" your way outta there. Or, y'know, just choose to hail a human-driven taxi like a normal person.