Tesla Attempts To Shorten Cybertruck Wait List; Will Prevent Resales for One Year

Tesla is trying to prevent scalpers from reselling the Cybertruck

MatthewDR/X

Tesla is taking steps to prevent owners from flipping their Cybertrucks for a profit. The company intends to help prevent the trucks from being resold at inflated prices and potentially speed up the delivery of Cybertrucks to actual customers.

Preventing Cybertruck Flipping

The Cybertruck is a hotly anticipated vehicle. Although the exact official data remains unknown, Elon Musk mentioned that more than 1 million people have pre-ordered it, but didn't reveal the exact number of units preordered. Giga Texas has already started production and the first deliveries are scheduled to take place at the November 30th delivery event. The truck is a complex product, and it will take time to ramp up production. Tesla eventually plans to land on 200,000 units per year, meaning that it could take five years for Tesla to make it through its preorder list. Tesla seems to be actively working to shorten wait times for its truck by encouraging those who preordered solely for reselling at a profit to cancel their preorders.

This practice is relatively common in the automotive world, especially when it comes to highly anticipated vehicles such as the Cybertruck.

Tesla's Order Agreement for the Cybertruck

Like several other automakers, Tesla has added an important clause to the Terms and Conditions of the Motor Vehicle Order Agreement, as noticed by @TeslaTruckClub. When purchasing a Cybertruck, the customer will have to agree to the terms and conditions described therein. In particular, the company prohibits the resale of the truck to third parties for a period of one year from the date of delivery.

If the customer has conditions that require the sale of the vehicle, they must notify the company. Tesla can buy the Cybertruck back "at its sole discretion and at the purchase price listed on your Final Price Sheet less $0.25/mile driven, reasonable wear and tear, and the cost to repair the Vehicle to Tesla's Used Vehicle Cosmetic and Mechanical Standards." If Tesla refuses to purchase the vehicle, the customer will be able to resell it to a third party only after receiving written consent from the company. If the terms are violated, Tesla may seek an injunction to prevent the transfer of ownership of the Cybertruck or seek damages of $50,000 from the customer. The full text of the terms and conditions can be found at the bottom of the article.

Why Is This a Positive Condition?

While some consumers may consider such terms to be a violation of their rights, in reality, they are intended to protect them. Since the Cybertruck already has a fan base and is the most anticipated vehicle in automotive history, some people may try to take advantage of early preorders. Many of them have pre-ordered multiple trucks with the sole purpose of reselling them at inflated prices once they receive them. However, this is only part of the problem.

If Tesla can get scalpers to cancel their preorders, then customers who ordered the truck for themselves could be in for a shorter wait time.

Below is the clause in Tesla's Order Agreement:

Cybertruck Only: You understand and acknowledge that the Cybertruck will first be released in limited quantity. You agree that you will not sell or otherwise attempt to sell the Vehicle within the first year following your Vehicle's delivery date. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if you must sell the Vehicle within the first year following its delivery date for any unforeseen reason, and Tesla agrees that your reason warrants an exception to its no reseller policy, you agree to notify Tesla in writing and give Tesla reasonable time to purchase the Vehicle from you at its sole discretion and at the purchase price listed on your Final Price Sheet less $0.25/mile driven, reasonable wear and tear, and the cost to repair the Vehicle to Tesla's Used Vehicle Cosmetic and Mechanical Standards. If Tesla declines to purchase your Vehicle, you may then resell your Vehicle to a third party only after receiving written consent from Tesla. You agree that in the event you breach this provision, or Tesla has reasonable belief that you are about to breach this provision, Tesla may seek injunctive relief to prevent the transfer of title of the Vehicle or demand liquidated damages from you in the amount of $50,000 or the value received as consideration for the sale or transfer, whichever is greater. Tesla may also refuse to sell you any future vehicles.

How had I never seen this in the Motor Vehicle Order Agreement before? pic.twitter.com/wI5FP05qV0

— Mike - CyberOwners.com (@TeslaTruckClub) November 11, 2023

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Tesla Update 2025.20 Tear Down Reveals Grok Personalities and Icons

@greentheonly on X

While most automakers are adding basic and un-integrated AI assistants to their vehicles, Tesla appears to be working hand-in-hand with xAI to build out an entire cast of characters for in-vehicle Grok. In the latest dive into Tesla’s firmware, Tesla hacker @greentheonly uncovered a few new details about the upcoming Grok feature.

This discovery, part of a larger batch of changes found in Tesla update 2025.20, also offers a hint at the hardware required for the Grok.

A Dozen Groks

While we knew from previous firmware teardowns that Tesla was adding various Grok personalities to the vehicle UI, this update introduces a new one called Language Tutor, which may allow users to learn and practice a new language. 

These are the different personas that will be included in Grok:

• Argumentative

• Assistant

• Conspiracy

• Doctor

• Kids’ Stories

• Kids’ Trivia Games

• Meditation

• Motivation

• Romantic

• Sexy

• Storyteller

• Therapist

• Language Tutor

• and the Grok Classic - Unhinged Mode

Release Date

Icons for these personalities have been added to the firmware for the first time, leading us to think Tesla is getting close to releasing the feature. However, even after the feature is developed and included in vehicle software, Tesla may only enable it selectively — such as for select employees for testing.

Grok is expected to be one of the largest vehicle features added via a software update, so it’ll be a big deal when it’s finally released. While we know more or less what to expect from Grok, what we don’t know is about vehicle requirements or whether it’ll require a subscription beyond Premium Connectivity.

Grok Requirements

While subscriptions required are anyone’s guess, vehicle requirements may be a little clearer now, thanks to Green’s discovery that Grok is only being added to AMD-based vehicle software builds.

Unfortunately, this likely means that older, Intel-based vehicles will not receive Grok support, at least for the time being. When Tesla introduced a voice assistant in China, they also started off with AMD-only support but later added Intel support, so it’s possible that the same could happen with Grok.

Energy Saving

Green also found a new undocumented navigation feature in 2025.20.3. This one focuses on leveraging Tesla’s vast amounts of data in an interesting way and offers drivers proactive advice to save energy on a well-traveled route. 

In the Energy App, your vehicle will display, “This route is typically driven at X mph. Slow down by Y mph to save Z% for the rest of this trip.’ 

As you can see in the photo below, Tesla recognizes that vehicles typically drive at 66 mph on the route being driven and offers the driver the option to go five mph slower to save 1% of range. While this example doesn’t provide much incentive to slow down, it could be useful for someone with a low state of charge or if the savings are more significant.

The new line in the Energy App

Not a Tesla App

In the future, Tesla could even use this, alongside the road surface data they’re gathering, to help plan routes for Robotaxi and Unsupervised FSD.

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NHTSA to Streamline Approvals for Control-Free Vehicles Like Tesla’s Cybercab

Not a Tesla App

In a letter to industry, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that it is overhauling its approvals process for vehicles designed without human controls.

The change addresses a regulatory bottleneck that has slowed down American companies like Tesla from deploying purpose-built Robotaxis, rather than relying on using traditional vehicles with steering wheels and pedals. The policy shift is outlined in a letter posted to the NHTSA’s website, which you can find here.

Reducing Approvals From Years to Months

Under the existing rules today, any vehicle that is built without a steering wheel or brake pedals must receive a special exemption from federal safety standards.

Obtaining exemptions for a particular vehicle was a time-consuming process for both the companies requesting exemptions and the NHTSA. The process was often a black box—nobody knew when an exemption might be granted, and approvals could take years.

The NHTSA, under the new administration’s guidelines for autonomous vehicle development, is now committed to streamlining this process. The agency will be implementing a new, faster approach immediately for receiving exemptions for autonomous vehicles without standard controls. The NHTSA expects decisions on exemption requests to be determined within months rather than years. 

Accelerating the Cybercab

This change has massive implications for Tesla, which is banking on the production of the simplified and easy-to-maintain purpose-built Cybercab. The Cybercab is developed from the ground up as an autonomous Robotaxi and will be one of the key beneficiaries of this move by the NHTSA.

Knowing that a final design won't be caught in a multi-year regulatory limbo provides a level of certainty that has been missing. It allows Tesla to confidently plan the manufacturing, development, and deployment processes without worrying whether the project will get stuck in regulatory approvals.

According to the letter, the agency will publish its improved instructions for the streamlined process "shortly." With Tesla already having begun Cybercab pre-production and the goals for its deployment as soon as late 2026, there’s still a lot to be done to make autonomy a part of Tesla’s new sustainable abundance mission statement.

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