I took Elon Musk's 'golden robot' for a test drive — and saw the Cybercab's strengths and weaknesses first-hand

Business Insider's Jan Klauth recently took a ride in a Tesla Cybercab.

Jan Klauth No steering wheel…no problem? Tesla's Cybercab has hit the streets in Austin without a steering wheel or pedals.

It competes directly against Uber and Waymo.

Jan Klauth, a correspondent from Germany's Welt, took a test drive in the robotaxi.

The woman in the car ahead of me pounds her steering wheel in frustration.

Then she throws her arms in the air and finally leans on the horn.

With an apologetic gesture (I must look like an idiot) I try to make clear to her: I cannot steer the car I'm sitting in the driver's seat of.

Not even if I wanted to.

A huge screen hangs in front of me, sure.

What's missing, though, is a steering wheel, a dashboard, a gas pedal and a brake.

It's almost 100 degrees at the parking lot in downtown Austin.

Rush-hour traffic is backed up, with cars reversing and pulling forward again to untangle the chaos in the lot.

I, too, am apparently supposed to back up to give the vehicles beside and in front of me room to reverse out of their spaces.

It's not a particularly complicated situation — but one that can really only be solved by communicating with other drivers.