JPMorgan Says Tesla Is Confident of Scaling Cybercab Operations, Touts Future Models Based on Platform—FSD V15 a ‘Step-Change’ From Previous Versions

Badar Shaikh

Sun, August 23, 2026 at 12:31 AM GMT+3 5 min read

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Investment bank JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Wednesday said that Tesla Inc. appears to be prioritizing the Cybercab over further scaling its Model Y robotaxi fleet.

New Cybercab Models?

Influencer and Tesla investor Sawyer Merritt took to the social media platform X, sharing a note released by JPMorgan following its meeting with the EV giant's management at its Fremont, California, facility. JPMorgan said that Tesla "expressed confidence in its ability to scale Cybercab in the near-term."

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The note also pointed towards possible future models based on the Cybercab platform. "Management also reiterated that the Cybercab is just the initial form factor, with additional vehicle types expected to follow as the platform evolves," pointing to the Obovan concept.

Separately, The Future Fund's Gary Black has argued that a sub-$30,000 Tesla model could provide significant upside for the EV giant.

FSD Upgrades, Optimus Robot

JPMorgan said Tesla also touted the Full Self-Driving (FSD) V15, which will be a "step-change in performance," and that the system would encompass "seven core technologies, with ~40% of those currently being tested in the robotaxi fleet, where initial feedback has been encouraging."

The note said that Tesla reaffirmed that the HW4 hardware was capable of running FSD V15 and unsupervised FSD, but the "AI4.5 compute system is designed to future-proof against rising compute (~10% higher FLOPS) and memory (~2x higher) demands as robotaxi models scale and context windows expand."

On the Optimus front, the note said that the commercial sales of the Optimus Gen 3 robot could begin by the second half of 2027, while the reveal of the robot would be closer to the start of its production at Fremont to "protect competitive advantage." Tesla said that the Gen 4 robot's "capability, cost, and scalability" will be "informed by Gen 3 field experience."

JPMorgan after meeting with Tesla recently in Fremont:
"Tesla indicated it is intentionally holding back on adding Model Y units to the robotaxi fleet, expressing confidence in its ability to scale Cybercab in the near-term. On FSD V15, Tesla views this release as a step-change… pic.twitter.com/W9yGCWRT3C

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 20, 2026

Photo courtesy: Rokas Tenys on Shutterstock.com

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