Making bets about Tesla’s launches can get pretty hairy — but Marques Brownlee is confident.
Brownlee, the hugely popular tech content creator, better known as MKBHD, said in 2024 that he would shave his head on camera if Tesla sold its steering-wheel-and-side-mirror-free Cybercab to regular buyers for $30,000 before the end of 2026.
“My hair is safe, for now,” he said during an 11-minute YouTube video, posted on Thursday. “And honestly, I feel pretty good about it staying good for the rest of the year.”
The declaration comes after Tesla took a meaningful step toward that goal on Thursday: It added the two-seat Cybercab to its public robotaxi service in Austin.
For Brownlee, that is a far cry from Tesla’s initial promise of putting that vehicle in consumers’ driveways by New Year’s Eve. In the YouTube post, he said Tesla would need to solve full self-driving, clear regulatory hurdles around selling a car without conventional hardware, and hit its aggressive price target — all within a few months.
Those are the same challenges sitting at the center of Tesla’s bigger pitch to investors. In recent years, the company has de-emphasized the importance of its traditional car sales model as it turns toward its AI and robotics business. Robotaxis and autonomy, including the success of the Cybercab, are at the core of that pivot.
CEO Elon Musk is expressing optimism, too. He said on Friday that he believes MKBHD will have to go bald soon:
In the YouTube video, Brownlee —who has stepped up criticism of the EV company, especially after he publicly canceled his long-awaited Roadster reservation — said he still likes the Cybercab idea. He is just skeptical of Tesla’s timing.
And he is willing to put other Tesla-believers’ hair on the line, too: If he loses, he said he will shave his head and donate money to cancer research. If they lose, they shave theirs at the end of 2026.
“Three months to prove me wrong,” he said.
And, for those who are curious to see what Brownlee might look like bald, the internet is swirling with plenty of AI slop videos and apps to fill in your imagination gaps:
Representatives for Brownlee and Tesla didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
