Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Tesla
In a blunder that sums up Tesla’s struggling efforts in the self-driving space, Electrek reports that the Elon Musk-owned automaker has badly screwed up trying to get a trademark for its upcoming “Cybercab.”
The Cybercab, for the uninformed, is Tesla’s purpose-built vehicle for giving driverless rides. Right now, its capital-R Robotaxi service, which operates as a comically tiny fleet exclusively in Austin, Texas, uses existing Tesla Model Ys, not specialized cars (and its trademark is itself under peril due to yet more incompetence, as we’ll explain later.) A prototype of the two-passenger, no-steering wheel Cybercab was unveiled at Tesla’s “We, Robot” event over a year ago, and Musk claims it’ll enter production in Q2 this year.
That promise could still end up being fulfilled, if you’re to ignore Musk’s proclivity for making overblown statements. But in the meantime, the fabled Cybercab is in serious danger of losing its name.
According to a US Patent and Trademark Office suspension notice obtained by Electrek, the trademark “Cybercab” has been formally suspended as of November 14, 2025, for two main reasons: a “likelihood of confusion,” the USPTO’s examining attorney wrote, and because another company called Unibev, a French beverage outfit, beat Tesla to the punch.
This wasn’t down to bad luck. Per the reporting, Musk unveiled the Cybercab at the “We, Robot” event on October 10, 2024, but neglected to file an application until November — an astonishing oversight for a company so large and ambitious. Unibev, meanwhile, saw the opening and filed a “Cybercab” application before the end of the month. Tesla had weeks to secure its trademark, even after making the questionable decision of not filing for it before unveiling the new product at a highly covered event.
Unibev is using a tactic called trademark squatting, and it apparently has a vendetta with Tesla, having three trademarks for “TESLAQUILA” in the US, the same name Tesla tried to use for its own line of tequila, Electrek noted.
As we alluded to earlier, this isn’t the only branding blow Tesla has suffered for its self-driving cab efforts. Last summer, the USPTO turned down Tesla’s application for trademarking the term “Robotaxi” for being too generic. Or in the examiner’s words, “merely descriptive,” since the term robotaxi is “used to describe similar goods and services by other companies.” It may as well have tried to trademark its cars as Cars.
With the Cybercab blunder, Tesla has already tried and failed to change the USPTO’s mind, so it looks like it’ll have to cut a deal with Unibev to drop its claim, or argue in court that it can’t hold the trademark since it has no intent to build cars. An Electrek source familiar with the matter says that Tesla and Unibev are in negotiations, but with no agreement reached yet.
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