LAS VEGAS (AP) — The nation's largest police fleet of Tesla Cybertrucks is set to begin patrolling the streets of Las Vegas in November thanks to a donation from a U.S. tech billionaire, raising concerns about the blurring of lines between public and private interests.
“Welcome to the future of policing,” Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a recent press conference, surrounded by the Cybertrucks while drones hovered overhead and a police
helicopter circled above him.
The fleet of 10 black-and-white Cybertrucks of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department with flashing lights and sirens are wrapped with the police department’s logo. About 400 officers have been trained to operate the trucks that will use public charging stations.
The all-electric vehicles are equipped with shotguns, shields and ladders and additional battery capacity to better handle the demands of a police department, McMahill said.
The donation has raised concerns from government oversight experts about private donors’ influence on public departments and the boost to the Tesla brand. The department is the latest U.S. city to turn to Tesla models even as Elon Musk ’s electric vehicle company has faced blowback because of his work earlier in the year to advance the president’s political agenda and downsize the federal government.
McMahill noted the trucks will help keep officers safer because they are bulletproof, while Metro’s other squad cars are not. Each Cybertruck is valued at somewhere between $80,000 and $115,000 and will be used to respond to calls like barricades and shootings in addition to regular patrols.
The Cybertrucks also offer unique benefits such as a shorter turn radius, he said.
“They look a little bit different than the patrol cars that we have out there, but they represent something far bigger than just a police car,” the sheriff said. “They represent innovation. They represent sustainability, and they represent our continued commitment to serve this community with the best tools that we have available, safely, efficiently and responsibly.”
The fleet comes amid a roller coaster year for Tesla that has dealt with multiple recalls.
In March, U.S. safety regulators recalled virtually all Cybertrucks on the road.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s recall, which covered more than 46,000 Cybertrucks, warned that an exterior panel that runs along the left and right side of the windshield can detach while driving, creating a dangerous road hazard for other drivers, increasing the risk of a crash. Tesla offered to replace the panels free of charge in notification letters sent out in May.
In late October, Tesla announced another recall of more than 63,000 Cybertrucks in the U.S. because the front lights are too bright, which may cause a distraction to other drivers and increase the risk of a collision.
Las Vegas officer Robert Wicks with the department’s public information office said all of Tesla’s recalls will have been dealt with before the Cybertrucks patrol the streets. The March recall regarding panel issues was handled before the department received the trucks, he said.
Federal regulators also have opened yet another investigation into Tesla’s self-driving feature after dozens of incidents in which the cars ran red lights or drove on the wrong side of the road, sometimes crashing into other vehicles and causing injuries.
The Cybertrucks modified for the Las Vegas police fleet do not have any kind of self-driving feature.
Laura Martin, executive director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada Action Fund, said the imposing trucks with their sharp angles “seems like they’re designed for intimidation and not safety."
“It just seems like Cybertrucks arriving on the streets of Clark County shows that Sheriff McMahill is prioritizing corporate giveaways and police militarization over real community needs," she said.
The donation comes after President Donald Trump earlier this year shopped for a new Tesla on the White House driveway and said he hoped his purchase would help the company as it struggled with sagging sales and declining stock prices.
Athar Haseebullah, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, said now the Las Vegas fleet of another Tesla model “to patrol our communities really draws the next parallel there.”
Haseebullah also is worried about the Cybertrucks' surveillance abilities that the public may not be unaware of, and that the fleet might give Tesla access to police data.
Following the explosion of a Cybertruck outside of Trump’s Las Vegas tower earlier this year, Tesla was able to provide detailed data of the driver inside, including the driver’s movements leading up to the explosion.
Ed Obayashi, a special prosecutor in California and an expert on national and state police practices, said private donations to law enforcement is not uncommon nor illegal unless a local or state law prohibits it.
In this case, the donation is a physical piece of equipment, and the money can’t be diverted to something else, Obayashi said. That said, he doesn’t think the trucks provide the department with a specific advantage.
“There’s not going to be really any distinct or noticeable advantage or benefits, so to speak, other than the fact that it’s a free vehicle and it saves the taxpayers money to replace equipment,” Obayashi said.
The Las Vegas fleet was a donation totaling about $2.7 million from Ben Horowitz, co-founder of the Silicon Valley venture capital firm known as Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, and his wife, Felicia Horowitz.
The couple, who live in Las Vegas, have made multiple donations to the department, including between $8 million to $9 million for Project Blue Sky, the department's implementation of drones throughout the valley. They've also donated funds to buy emergency call technology and license plate readers — products from companies in which Andreessen Horowitz invests.
Ben Horowitz, who has donated to political campaigns for both Democrats and Republicans, was among the investors who backed Elon Musk’s bid to take over Twitter, now known as X.
His venture capitalist firm also hosted McMahill and Metro Chief of Staff Mike Gennaro on a podcast in November 2024.
Ben and Felicia Horowitz could not be reached for comment, however in a 2024 blog post, Ben Horowitz described their interest in donating to the department, stressing the importance of public safety and the difficulties public sectors have in budgeting for technology.
McMahill said the couple wanted to make sure that Las Vegas didn’t “become California when it comes to crime.”
