Elon Musk loses Tesla's 'Cybercab' trademark after one astonishing mistake
It sounds like there could be some awkward conversations being held over at the Tesla headquarters, with Elon Musk's electric vehicle giant supposedly losing the trademark for the upcoming 'Cybercab'.
Billed as the future of transport, the two-passenger vehicle was first unveiled in October 2024, with 20 prototypes shuttling attendees to the “We, Robot” event.
While much of the event was taken up by Tesla's Optimus robots and the beefy Robovan, which can supposedly carry 20 passengers as a potential autonomous replacement for the standard bus, there's been plenty of chatter about the Cybercab – well, if we can even call it that.
As reported by Electrek (via Futurism), the Cybercab has hit a snag because Tesla can't actually call it that due to a US Patent and Trademark Office suspension notice.
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Tesla trademark for 'Cybercab' was suspended on November 14, 2025, citing a "likelihood of confusion" thanks to a French beverage company called Unibev having ownership of Cybercab.
Although the Cybercab was revealed in October 2025, Tesla failed to file a trademark until November.
Unibev appears to have something of a vendetta with Tesla, previously taking part in the so-called 'trademark squatting' to nab "TESLAQUILA” in the USA. This was an early name for what we now know as Tesla Tequila.
While Tesla has argued against the Cybercab ruling, the examining attorney “carefully considered applicant’s arguments… but does not find them to be persuasive."
If Tesla wants to get back Cybercab, it'll have to reach an agreement with Unibev or argue in court that the French company shouldn't hold the trademark because it has no intention of building its own Cybercabs.
Then again, the idea of a beverage company releasing a line of vehicles wouldn't exactly be the strangest thing we've heard.
Hoping to avoid the mistakes of the past, Electrek says that Tesla has recently filed two new trademark applications within just 37 seconds of each other. It apparently came just moments after Elon Musk referred to the Cybercab in Tesla's Q4 2025 earnings call.
Cybercab is individualized point-to-point autonomous transport
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) December 24, 2025
pic.twitter.com/ijS2Vdxt7m
These filings are for 'Cybercar' and 'Cybervehicle', coming in the aftermath of Tesla struggling to claim Cybercab as its own. During the call, the world's richest man said: "Because that implies that the CyberCab, which is a dedicated two-seater dedicated robo taxi, is a little confusing with the terms robo taxi and CyberCab. Sorry about the confusion.
"In fact, in some states, we’re not allowed to use the word cab or taxi, so it’s going to get even more strange. It’s going to be like Cybervehicle or something Cybercar. But the CyberCab, which is a specific model that we’re making, does not have a steering wheel or pedals."
It seems that his words didn't fall on deaf ears, with workers scrambling to make sure they're not caught in another Cybercab situation.
As for the Cybercab, it comes after Tesla failed to persuade the USPTO that it deserved the copyright for 'Robotaxi'. The examiner deemed that it was "merely descriptive," maintaining that robotaxi is a generic term “used to describe similar goods and services by other companies."