--- title: "Cybertruck Already Found Broken Down and Abandoned on Side of Road" description: "A Tesla Cybertruck has been spotted abandoned and apparently broken down on the side of the interstate near Silicon Valley." date: "2023-08-14" modified: "2023-08-14" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-cybertruck-abandoned" categories: - "Advanced Transport" tags: - "cybertruck" - "prototype" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Cybertruck Already Found Broken Down and Abandoned on Side of Road ![A Tesla Cybertruck has been spotted abandoned and apparently broken down on the side of the interstate near Silicon Valley.]() *\Image: Tesla / Futurism\* ## Go For Broke A Tesla Cybertruck has been spotted abandoned and apparently broken down on the side of the interstate near Silicon Valley — and we've got a lot of questions about what's going on. As [*Electrek* reports](), a reader saw someone he presumed to be a Tesla worker poking around under the hood of a still-unreleased Cybertruck prototype off the highway in Los Altos Hills, a small town near the powerhouse tech cities of Palo Alto and Mountain View. The reader turned around to get a better look and said that once he returned to the stalled truck, it had been abandoned and covered with an unmarked tarp — a strange turn of events that allowed the reader to get close-up photos of the Cybertruck, including its [undercarriage and suspension](), the latter of which has apparently never before been photographed. https://twitter.com/FredericLambert/status/1690122717377277953?s=20 ## Wreck Room Naturally, this roadside Cybertruck sighting raises more questions than it answers, and it's unlikely we or anyone else will get satisfying answers any time soon —though we did reach out to Tesla anyway — because the Elon Musk-owned company infamously [shuttered its press office]() back in 2020. In its post, *Electrek* noted that it's not uncommon for prototypes to break down during testing, and that in fact, [pushing these test vehicles to break down]() in order to diagnose problems is the point of stress-testing them in the first place. But as commenters noted on the [r/RealTesla subreddit](), the Cybertruck being broken down isn't its biggest issue. As more than one user noted, it's strange that the person presumed to be a Tesla employee left the Cybertruck prototype alone on the side of the interstate without waiting nearby — a seeming abandonment that allowed an *Electrek* contributor to get previously-unavailable photos of the unreleased vehicle's inner workings. Whether leaving broken-down prototypes on the side of public highways is part of Tesla's employee protocol is anyone's guess — as are any implications for the [Cybtertruck's purported release date]() at the end of Q3, which is coming up next month. **More on Tesla:** [*Man Puzzled When His Totaled Tesla Comes Back Online in Ukraine*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()