Tesla submitted applications to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday to register the terms “Cybercar” and “Cybervehicle,” according to documents published to the USPTO website. The electric vehicle company has previously filed applications for Cybercab and Cyberbus, two products that don’t actually exist yet, as well as Cybertruck, the official truck of middle-aged dads without child visitation rights.
The big question is whether the Cybercar and Cybervehicle are intended to be something that eventually gets a public release or remains vaporware and serves little purpose beyond juicing Tesla’s stock price. Both options seem equally likely in this moment.
The law firm Gerben IP, which was the first to report on the trademark applications, notes that once USPTO reviews and approves a trademark, companies like Tesla typically have about three years to begin using the name in commerce before they risk losing it. Put another way, you can’t just park a trademark like a web domain indefinitely. Eventually, you have to sell the product, or it’ll get taken away.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on an earnings call Wednesday that he was discontinuing the Model S and X. “We expect to wind down S and X production next quarter and basically stop production,” said Musk. “That is slightly sad, but it’s time to bring the S and X programs to an end, and it’s part of our overall shift to an autonomous future.”
What does an autonomous future mean? For Musk, it means a focus on things like humanoid robots. He’s been hyping up his Optimus robot like crazy, despite the fact that Tesla is well behind competitors when it comes to capabilities. Anytime he rolls out Optimus to demonstrate some impressive feat like pouring beer or folding laundry, it typically turns out that there’s a human controlling the robot remotely. Sometimes with hilariously bad results.
But the question is what that means for Musk’s new names, the Cybercar and the Cybervehicle. One possibility is that these are names that are somehow related to the Cybertruck and will be vehicles with more boxy designs. Another possibility is that these are going to be more closely related to the Cybercab, a concept car Musk unveiled in late 2024 that seats just two people and doesn’t have a steering wheel.
The Cybercab shouldn’t be confused with the Robotaxi, which is the vehicle shuttling passengers in Austin, Texas. Those Robotaxis have a steering wheel and are basically just regular Tesla vehicles with human minders. Is the Cybercar and Cybervehicle envisioned as something without a steering wheel? We simply don’t know yet.
The other option is that these vehicles will have something to do with the flying car that Musk teased on Joe Rogan last year. The Tesla CEO said he would demo the mysterious vehicle before the end of 2025. That didn’t happen, obviously. But whenever things are looking rough for Tesla’s business, Musk will often try to dangle another shiny object in front of Wall Street to keep his stock price afloat.
Gerben IP seems to favor the theory that the new filings are somehow related to the Cybertruck: “Given Tesla’s track record, it wouldn’t be surprising if one of these names eventually ends up on a smaller, more accessible cousin to the Cybertruck.” But we’re skeptical. Cybertruck sales have been in the toilet, and it seems much more likely that it would be related to some vaporware more in line with the Cybercab.
Tesla didn’t respond to questions emailed Thursday, though that’s not exactly a surprise. Every company under Musk’s control is actively hostile to the press, and the billionaire shut down Tesla’s PR department years ago. We’ll update this article if, by some miracle, we hear back from Tesla.
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.jpg?ssl=1 "These New Smart Glasses From Solos Come With a Privacy Shield for the CamerasSmart glasses company Solos has long focused on audio-only smart glasses. On Tuesday, it announced two new pairs of glasses, one of which has a camera—but you can buy a separate accessory to hide the camera for privacy’s sake.Solos’ new smart glasses are the audio-only AirGo A6 and the second iteration of its camera-enabled glasses, the Solos AirGo V2. The latter was first announced last year as an effort to directly “outshine Meta.” These 9 glasses do just about everything you’d expect from Meta’s new 9 Meta Smartglasses, including photo and video capture, playing music, and interacting with an AI-powered assistant that can see what you see. They can be fitted with prescription lenses and have a 10- to 12-hour battery life.The AirGo V2 glasses can also be paired with a new Privacy Kit, a set of clip-on accessories that let wearers control what their camera glasses can access. The clip-on privacy shield blocks the cameras from view and from recording the world, allowing you to keep wearing the glasses in audio-only mode. There’s also a clip-on polarized lens, and the full kit of modular options costs .Selling a privacy kit as a clip-on accessory is perhaps not the most effective way to stave off concerns about people running around with small, discreet cameras on their faces. Having to buy a separate item, then clip it on and off every time you want to use or disable the camera, is a lot of extra steps that will likely keep people from bothering with privacy at all. Also, there isn’t anything stopping bad actors from removing the clip-on blockers later in an interaction—say, after entering an event that prohibits camera recording.Courtesy of Solos SmartglassesSolos’ first camera-enabled glasses, the Solos AirGo Vision, launched in 2024. WIRED put them in the “Don’t Bother” section of our Best Smart Glasses gallery, citing some decent design choices, albeit ones held back by middling media capture quality, frustrating touch controls, and a power-hungry app that demands too many permissions. All in all, the glasses haven’t quite reached the standard Meta has set with its popular smart glasses.Meta has been the dominant force in the smart glasses market, but other big companies are trying to fill in the cracks. Google and Samsung have a partnership to build out Google’s Android XR platform, with new glasses arriving later this year from eyewear brands Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Apple has reportedly been building its own smart glasses as well.Some smaller companies are adjusting their target markets to counter Meta, like Even Realities and its camera-free glasses. Solos’ reemphasis on privacy comes after a period of widespread criticism of Meta’s glasses. The devices have been called creepy “pervert glasses” and were criticized after the company silently added face recognition code to its glasses, then quickly removed it after public outcry following a WIRED report. Meta hasn’t done itself any favors since then, announcing last week that it will start charging for features on its smart glasses that have previously been free.Meta has acknowledged that a market for audio-only smart glasses exists, as CTO Andrew Bosworth said in a private Q&A session with media that he thinks there is “market demand for that product for sure.” But Meta hasn’t moved away from its camera-forward spectacles yet. It may very well make audio-only glasses in the future. Until then, companies like Solos are eager to chip away at that market.#Smart #Glasses #Solos #Privacy #Shield #Camerascameras,design,smart glasses,wearables,artificial intelligence,meta")
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