Tesla will open Optimus reservations for its humanoid robot in early December, The San Francisco Standard reported on 30 October, citing a robotics investor who says Tesla told him so. Hours later, Elon Musk was asked on X whether Optimus ordering was coming in December. He replied: “No.”
That leaves a report from a single named source on one side and a one-word reply from Tesla’s chief executive on the other. Tesla did not respond to the Standard’s requests for comment, and the company has announced no reservation window, deposit or price for Optimus.
In brief
- The SF Standard reports that Tesla plans to open Optimus reservations in early December, around the 1-2 December Humanoids Summit, according to organiser Modar Alaoui.
- Asked on X whether Optimus ordering was coming in December, Musk replied “No.”
- Tesla has announced no reservation date or price; the Standard’s “$20,000-plus” estimate and one-year shipping wait are its own framing.
What the Standard reported about Optimus reservations
The Standard’s source is Modar Alaoui, a robotics investor at ALM Ventures who runs the Humanoids Summit, a conference taking place on 1 and 2 December in San Mateo, California. According to the paper, “Tesla told Alaoui that reservations will be timed to launch with his event or in the following days, he said.”
Alaoui told the Standard that most of the robots will be sold to companies, but that “a small number will be set aside for consumers”, and that the first shipment is expected to include the Optimus V3 model. The Standard added its own expectations: the robots “likely wouldn’t ship for another year”, and buyers should expect to pay “$20,000-plus”. It also said it was “unclear how much money, if any, will be required to reserve a robot.”
The Tesla link to the summit is confirmed by the organisers. Earlier on 30 October, the Humanoids Summit said on X that it “is partnering with @Tesla to bring Optimus and complimentary Full Self-Driving (Supervised) demo drives to all Summit attendees”. The summit’s website carries the same partnership. Neither mentions reservations.
Musk’s one-word reply
The question came from tech commentator Robert Scoble, who posted on X at 19:07 GMT on 30 October: “Optimus ordering coming in December?” Musk replied “No” at 22:08 GMT. The Standard updated its story to say Musk “appeared to deny any December waitlist plans”. He gave no reason and no other date.
Musk’s own public timeline points later. On Tesla’s third-quarter earnings call, he said first deliveries of Optimus to companies outside Tesla would come around the end of 2027, after Optimus production began on Tesla’s Fremont lines. He has also said that Optimus and Cybercab will make up most of Tesla’s value.
What Musk’s ‘No’ does and does not settle
Musk’s reply rules out the simplest version of the story: that ordering opens in December. It does not settle everything. Scoble asked about “ordering”, and Musk answered that question only. A reservation list with no payment and no delivery date could still be described differently, and Alaoui’s account allowed for a launch “in the following days” after the summit. Until Tesla says something itself, Optimus reservations remain a claim from one source, disputed by the company’s chief executive.
The gap between a waitlist and a delivery is the part buyers should note. The Standard points out that Tesla has taken Roadster reservations for a decade without deliveries, and that 1X has taken reservations for a $20,000 humanoid without shipping any. Musk’s own target of deliveries to other companies around the end of 2027 suggests that even an early reservation list would come long before robots arrive, and that businesses would be served first.
The summit itself is now the thing to watch. Tesla is confirmed as a partner and Optimus will be there. If Tesla makes any announcement about Optimus reservations, that is the most likely moment, and it would come from the company rather than a third party. Other humanoid makers, such as Figure, which says its Figure 04 has reached design lock, face the same test: a public timetable is easy to promise and hard to keep. For a fuller view of Tesla’s ambitions, see TSN’s Optimus background piece.
Sources
- The San Francisco Standard: Tesla is set to open reservations for Optimus robot later this year, says industry expert (Rachyl Jones, 30 Oct 2026, updated the same day)
- Elon Musk on X, reply to Robert Scoble, 30 Oct 2026
- Humanoids Summit on X: partnership with Tesla, 30 Oct 2026
- Humanoids Summit website
Related stories
- Tesla Says Optimus Production Has Begun; Musk Puts 20,000 a Week a Year Away
- Musk Says Optimus and Cybercab Will Be Most of Tesla’s Value
- Tesla Optimus: The $10 Trillion Bet on Humanoid Robotics
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