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(Joe Wilkins Avatar)   By (https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins) Joe Wilkins      Published  Sep 11, 2026 1:52 PM EDT           (https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=futurism.com) Add Futurism (opens in a new tab)      More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results.        (A photo illustration of flames over a parking lot of Tesla Cybercabs.)   Shutterstock / Futurism    Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech  (handle_newsletter_email_submission) (7b94d4b73b)  (/future-society/firefighters-texas-telsa-cybercab-glaring-issue-steering-wheel)  (FUTinline) (0) Email address  (Enter your email) (Please enter a valid email address)  Sign Up  Thank you!           Tesla’s flashy gold Cybercabs are (https://www.theverge.com/transportation/992014/tesla-cybercab-hands-on-test-robotaxi-austin) rolling out to the streets of Austin, their butterfly doors glowing under the Texas Sun. The city’s firefighters, however, have one small quibble with the new self-driving vehicle: there’s no steering wheel. In an (https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/tesla-cybercab-no-steering-wheel-worries-austin-firefighters-rcna596658) interview with NBC  , Austin Fire Department chief Matthew McElearney expressed concerns that the Cybercab’s manual controls are tied to the on-board touchscreen. Should first responders have to move a Cybercab during an emergency, the (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198226000382) infamously finicky nature of car touchscreens could present a challenge. “Obviously, it has some drawbacks,” McElearney said of the car’s touchscreen controls. “You need power to do that. It does have some limitations on speed. And it does require a little bit of, I would say, training or maybe some finesse to operate.” As the chief told NBC , there are any number of real-world scenarios where a touchscreen just won’t do, like incidents where responders are wearing gloves, are covered in dust or sweat, or if the vehicle is damaged or lacks power. “What I would not want is for somebody to put their fingertips on it and try to slowly roll it, and then it zigs when it’s supposed to zag,” McElearney continued. Though Cybercabs present the most recent challenge, the chief likewise expressed concerns around vehicles by Tesla rivals like Zoox and Waymo. In the end, he says it shouldn’t be up to the companies on whether to design their vehicles with a steering wheel, but on federal regulators to demand it. “We need the feds to step up to the plate on this,” McElearney concluded. “I know the administration is very pro-technology, but we also need to be pro-doing it the right way — not just to beat somebody to the autonomous punch.” More on Tesla:  (https://futurism.com/advanced-transport/teslas-glitchy-cybercab-accidentally-lets-passengers-access-controls-to-manually-drive) Tesla’s Glitchy Cybercab Accidentally Lets Passengers Access Controls to Manually Drive the Car Using Virtual Joystick on In-Vehicle Screen    Add Futurism as a (https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=futurism.com) preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting.   (https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins) (Joe Wilkins Avatar)   (https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins) Joe Wilkins   Correspondent    I’m a tech and labor correspondent for Futurism, where my beat includes the role of emerging technologies in governance, surveillance, and labor.   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(https://futurism.com/category/elon-musk) Elon Musk   (https://futurism.com/future-society/amazon-cargo-jet-crashes-parking-lot-tesla-cybercabs) Amazon Cargo Jet Crashes Just Feet From Parking Lot Full of Tesla Cybercabs, Killing Five   By (https://futurism.com/authors/victor) Victor Tangermann           (https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-tesla-cybercab-no-charging-plug) (Tesla’s Long-Awaited Cybercab Is Missing an Extremely Basic Feature)     (https://futurism.com/category/tesla) Tesla   (https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-tesla-cybercab-no-charging-plug) Tesla’s Long-Awaited Cybercab Is Missing an Extremely Basic Feature   By (https://futurism.com/authors/victor) Victor Tangermann           (https://futurism.com/future-society/tesla-cybercab-dripping-liquid) (Recent sightings of an early Tesla Cybercab prototype in Chicago suggest the company is adding a rear-facing camera washer.)     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(https://futurism.com/category/elon-musk) Elon Musk   (https://futurism.com/tesla-analysis-robotaxi-musk) An Internal Tesla Analysis Found the Robotaxi Would Lose Money, and You’ll Never Guess What Elon Musk Did in Response   By (https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins) Joe Wilkins           (https://futurism.com/category/future-society) SEE MORE        (https://futurism.com/) ()    Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech  (handle_newsletter_email_submission) (7b94d4b73b)  (/future-society/firefighters-texas-telsa-cybercab-glaring-issue-steering-wheel)  (FUTinline) (0) Email address  (Enter your email) (Please enter a valid email address)  Sign Up  Thank you!          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