Elon Musk's one-word answer on Optimus reservations: no
On Friday, it looked like you could get in line for a Tesla robot next month.
The San Francisco Standard reported that Tesla is expected to open reservations for Optimus, its humanoid robot, in early December. The source was Modar Alaoui, the investor who runs the Humanoids Summit in San Mateo on Dec. 1 and 2, as Tesla News Wire summarized. Tesla didn't comment.
Robert Scoble asked on X whether Optimus ordering was really coming in December. Elon Musk replied at 3:08 p.m. Pacific with one word.
So there's no date, no order page and no price.
Here's the twist: the robots are real. Tesla's third-quarter update said production-quality Optimus units have started coming off high-volume lines in Fremont, TeslaNorth reports, and a bigger Optimus factory is going up in Austin.
On the October earnings call, Musk said the robot's remaining problems with AI, electromechanical design and run time should be solved "around the end of next year," when Tesla expects to deliver to outside companies.
Tesla has taken deposits on a dream before. Some Roadster buyers put down $50,000 in 2017. The car was finally unveiled on Oct. 15, and Musk says production starts in 2028.
Save your deposit. For now, the robot is a no.
Image: Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0.
