Tesla Cybertruck looks like an alien spaceship on L.A.'s 405

Is Tesla testing the truck, or just showing it off?

Many criticized the Tesla Cybertruck for being closer to a prototype than to a production model, and time will tell how much of the design the company is able to keep. In the meantime, Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk proved it's more realistic than it might seem by taking it for a spin.

Footage of the Cybertruck, a one-off as of this writing, prowling the streets of Los Angeles has surfaced on Twitter, and on an enthusiast forum dedicated to the model. One Angeleno posted a video of it cruising down the 405, while several car spotters saw it parked in front of Nobu, a Japanese restaurant in Malibu. It was often accompanied by a Model 3, and some claim Musk was behind the wheel -- and, later, behind a delicious plate of Japanese food.

Over at TMZ, they reported that Musk was behind the wheel with a truckload of passengers, and was showing off the truck to actor Edward Norton. And the truck was apparently unwieldly enough that Musk hit a traffic pylon pulling into the Nobu parking lot.

Tesla repaired the side window that broke during the unveiling before letting its chief executive take the truck out for a spin. And if you're wondering how on earth it's street-legal, take a look at the back end: It's wearing a manufacturer plate. From a legal perspective, there's not a big difference between Musk driving around in a Cybertruck prototype and vehicle development engineers putting camouflaged test mules through their paces in Death Valley.

Our best look yet at the Cybertruck in real-world conditions suggests it's even more UFO-like when it's surrounded by the cars we're used to seeing in 2019. It's also huge; it dwarfs the Model 3. And, a photo taken near LAX by Twitter user Cody Simms shows the truck's hitch.

There's no word on why the Cybertruck was let loose in traffic. Musk — assuming he really was behind the wheel — might be gathering data on the powertrain, or he might have simply felt the urge to show it off in order to keep the hype going. Either way, we expect more reports of wild Cybertruck sightings in the coming months as Tesla develops and refines the model, which is tentatively scheduled to enter production in late 2021.