Cybertruck crash raises alarm over Tesla’s self-driving software
A crash involving a Tesla Cybertruck while in self-driving mode has raised concerns about the reliability of the company’s software that underpins the feature.
Vion – World News
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the Cybertruck could transition into a fully autonomous vehicle for commercial cargo delivery.
- Cybertruck sales fell by nearly half in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to data from Cox Automotive.
- A Yale University study suggests that CEO Elon Musk’s political stance may have hurt Tesla’s sales.
Tesla’s unconventional electric pickup truck, the Cybertruck, may soon be headed for a self-driving commercial future, CEO Elon Musk told investors during Tesla’s January 28 earnings call.
“We are transitioning the Cybertruck lineup to fully autonomous vehicles,” Musk said in response to a question about the Cybertruck’s weak sales in recent months.
“There’s clearly a market for freight delivery, like localized freight delivery to cities hundreds of miles away, things like that,” Musk said. “There’s a lot of freight that needs to be moved locally within cities, and a self-driving Cybertruck could really help with that.”
The comments come as sales of Tesla’s Cybertruck will fall by nearly half in 2025, according to new data released by Cox Automotive.
How many Cybertrucks has Tesla sold?
The Silicon Valley electric vehicle maker sold 20,237 units of its unconventional electric pickup trucks in 2025, which was 48.1% less than the 38,965 units it sold in 2024. This vehicle was first introduced as a 2024 model.
The Cybertruck’s sales decline comes as overall electric vehicle sales declined in 2025 after President Donald Trump and Congress eliminated a $7,500 tax credit for EV buyers that the Cybertruck and other models were eligible for. According to new data released by Cox Automotive on January 13, automakers sold 1,275,714 electric vehicles in 2025, enough to account for nearly 8% of total U.S. vehicle sales that year. However, industry-wide EV sales also fell 2% from the 1,301,441 electric vehicles automakers sold in 2024.
Travis Axelrod, Tesla’s director of investor relations, defended the Cybertruck’s 2025 sales numbers on a January 28 call.
“In this space, the Cybertruck continues to be the leader, selling more electric trucks than any other,” Alexrod said. “As our competitors continue to retreat.”
How did Tesla’s other cars sell in 2025?
Tesla sold 589,160 cars in the U.S. in 2025, down 7% from 2024’s domestic sales of 633,762 cars.
The company said in an investor presentation from the third quarter of 2025 that the challenges it faces in 2025 are due to “near-term uncertainties due to changes in trade, tariffs and fiscal policy.”
Tesla’s best-selling car in 2025 was the Model Y, which sold 357,528 units in 2025, which was 4% less than the 372,613 Model Y units the company sold in 2024.
Here’s how the rest of Tesla’s lineup fared in 2025 compared to its 2024 performance.
- Model 3 | 192,440 people in 2025. 189,903 people in 2024
- Model S | 5,889 people in 2025. 12,426 people in 2024
- Model X | 13,066 people in 2025. 19,855 people in 2024
On January 28, Musk announced plans to end production of the Model S and Model X in the spring of 2026.
What role do Elon Musk’s politics play in Tesla’s sales slump?
Industry analysts also cited the impact that Musk’s collaboration with Trump and staunchly conservative political stances had on the company’s car sales.
The Cybertruck, in particular, was launched at the height of the 2024 presidential campaign, when Musk was a vocal supporter of Trump, and became a symbol of some shoppers’ alignment with Musk and Trump’s politics.
A November 2025 Yale University study found that Tesla sold between 1 million and 1.26 million fewer vehicles between October 2022 and April 2025 than it would have without what the study authors called the “Musk partisan effect.” The study also found that Musk’s public political stance also helped other automakers increase sales of electric and hybrid vehicles, as drivers who opposed his political stance fled to other EV makers.
A new poll released Jan. 12 by EVs for All America, an advocacy group that works with automakers to push U.S. and state legislatures to adopt EV-friendly policies, found that 44% of people who said they were seriously considering buying an EV had a mostly negative opinion of Musk.
Other findings from the poll include:
- Among those who said they might consider buying an EV if prices for plug-in models fell, 52% said they had a mostly negative opinion of Musk.
- Among those who said they were considering buying an EV in the next year, 46% had a negative opinion of Tesla as a brand.
- Of all respondents to the poll, 58% said they had an unfavorable opinion of Tesla.
