Tesla is taking orders for the Cybercab, but the car will not move unless the buyer also pays for a $299-a-month "Autonomy Subscription."
That works out to $3,588 a year, and it comes on top of the order itself. Over five years, the fee alone reaches $17,940. The car is set to operate in eight cities: Austin, Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Miami, Orlando and Tampa.
The map is narrower than the list suggests. Five of the cities are in Texas and three are in Florida, so the launch covers two states.
The pricing structure matters more than the city count. Making a recurring fee the condition for the car to move at all puts the Cybercab closer to a software service than to a traditional car purchase. The hardware is the delivery vehicle, and the subscription is the product. Automakers have already tried charging monthly for individual features, such as heated seats. Charging monthly for the core function is a bigger step.
The fee also gives buyers a simple yardstick. At just under $10 a day, the subscription is the figure to weigh against what the same trips would cost in a conventional ride service.