Tesla is still not accepting orders or reservations for the Optimus humanoid robot. Information about a possible waiting list in early December was dismissed by Elon Musk with a brief response: “No.”
Musk responded to a question on the social network X about whether users would be able to order the robot in December. His response was published on November 1 and contradicts information circulated two days earlier. Expectations of registrations stemmed from a statement by Modar Alawi—a technology entrepreneur and investor in humanoid robotics who organizes the Humanoids Summit conference. The event will take place on December 1 and 2 in San Mateo, California.
Speaking to The San Francisco Standard, Alawi said that Tesla might open registration to individual customers around the time of the conference. According to him, most of the first robots will be intended for companies, while a smaller portion will be set aside for private buyers. Tesla has confirmed neither this plan nor a specific reservation schedule.
Musk’s response rules out the possibility of consumer orders in December, but it does not provide a definitive answer as to whether Tesla could create a non-binding waiting list. Such a list would allow interested parties to register their interest without it constituting an official order or a paid reservation. A price of $20,000 has been mentioned in a number of reports, but this figure remains only an estimate. Tesla has not published an official price for any version of the robot, nor has it said whether a reservation fee will be required.
The company has also not confirmed how it will allocate the first units between corporate and individual customers. It is also unclear whether the initial model will be sold directly, offered for lease, or used under another commercial model. Musk had identified the end of 2027 as a target for the first deliveries of Optimus to companies outside Tesla. Sales to the general public could also begin then, but the timeline depends on resolving technical issues related to artificial intelligence, operating time, and the robot’s electromechanical design.
The Optimus V3 version is expected to be the first that Tesla will deliver, but this too has not been officially confirmed by the company. For now, there is no public information about a final price, the exact number of initial units, or a specific registration procedure. This leaves two distinct issues surrounding the robot: a possible non-binding waiting list connected with the conference in December, and actual orders, which according to Musk’s response will not be available to consumers during that month.