Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he feared his long-standing feud with Elon Musk could have ended in death by cyber-taxi. The former Grand Tour host, 66, was testing Tesla's driverless vehicles in Austin, Texas, when he became trapped inside a Cybercab that he suspected was taking him to Musk's laser development room.
Faulty Cybercab Experience
In his latest column for The Times, Clarkson described his frustration at being assigned a Cybercab that stopped around the corner from where he had been waiting. After climbing in, the car failed to set off, forcing him to order a replacement. After 'half an hour of swearing,' the new Cybercab arrived, but further problems emerged at the drop-off point.
The vehicle passed several places where it could have stopped, ran red lights, and hit the brakes for a non-existent pedestrian. Clarkson said it then got into a 'big debate with an autonomous shopping trolley about whose right of way it was.'
Fear of Retaliation
During the ordeal, Clarkson grew increasingly nervous. 'It was no longer listening to me. It wouldn't stop. It wouldn't open the doors. And I began to worry,' he explained. 'Elon and I had a bit of a falling-out a while back, and I thought it might be taking me to the room where he develops lasers.' He joked, 'No, Mr. Clarkson. I expect you to die.'
Clarkson survived, and the Cybercab eventually dropped him off. 'But I must admit that for ten minutes or so, I was a bit worried because I was in a car that was driving itself while seemingly having some kind of electronic hot flush. And there was absolutely nothing I could do,' he finished.
Background of the Feud
The rivalry stems from a 2008 Top Gear review of Tesla's Roadster, where Clarkson took issue with the alleged 16-hour charge time and two vehicles breaking down. Tesla tried and failed to sue the BBC for libel. Clarkson has since called Musk an 'idiot.'
In 2025, Clarkson reflected on the lawsuit, writing: 'He lost the case, and the appeal, and he's never really got over it. He still claims I was biased and that we pretended his car had broken down when it hadn't. Even though it had.'
