Musk says ‘No’: Tesla will not open Optimus robot orders in December
If you were hoping to put down a deposit on a Tesla Optimus robot this Christmas, Elon Musk has a one-word answer for you: no. A report on Friday 30 October said Tesla would open reservations for its humanoid robot in early December. Within hours, Musk was asked about it directly on X, and his reply shut the idea down — at least for December.
At a glance
What happened: The San Francisco Standard reported on 30 October that Tesla would open Optimus reservations in early December, citing robotics investor Modar Alaoui. Hours later, Elon Musk replied “No” on X when asked whether Optimus ordering was coming in December.
Why it matters: Optimus is central to Tesla’s future — Musk says it and the Cybercab will make up most of the company’s value — so any sign of a consumer launch moves markets and excites buyers. The denial shows the sales timetable is far behind the production headlines.
What happens next: All eyes turn to the Humanoids Summit in San Mateo, California, on 1–2 December, where Tesla is a partner and Optimus will be demonstrated. If Tesla announces anything about reservations, that is the most likely moment.
What the report said
The story began with The San Francisco Standard, which reported on Friday 30 October that Tesla was expected to open customer reservations for Optimus in early December. The report, by Rachyl Jones, cited Modar Alaoui, a robotics investor at ALM Ventures who also runs the Humanoids Summit, a robotics conference taking place on 1 and 2 December in San Mateo, California. According to the report, Tesla had told Alaoui that reservations would be timed to launch with his event, or in the days immediately after it.
The Standard added its own expectations around the numbers. It said buyers should expect to pay more than $20,000 for a robot, and that the robots would probably not ship for another year after reservations opened. It also said it was unclear how much money, if any, would be required to reserve one. Tesla did not respond to the Standard’s requests for comment. Even on the report’s own terms, then, a December reservation would not have meant a December robot — only a place in a queue, for an unknown deposit, with roughly a year to wait.
Musk’s one-word reply
The report did not survive the day unchallenged. Tech commentator Robert Scoble quoted the Standard’s post on X and asked a simple question: “Optimus ordering coming in December?” In the same post, he jokingly asked an automated account to watch for it and order him one.
Musk replied at 22:08 GMT on 30 October — 3:08 p.m. Pacific time — with a single word: “No.”
The Standard updated its story to say Musk “appeared to deny any December waitlist plans”. He gave no reason for the denial and offered no alternative date. Neither Tesla nor Musk has since posted a public order page or a firm consumer sales date.
It is worth being precise about what the reply does and does not settle. Scoble asked about “ordering”, and Musk answered that question only. A reservation list that takes no payment and promises no delivery date could, in theory, be described differently from ordering, and Alaoui’s account allowed for a launch in the days after the summit rather than on the day itself. So the denial rules out the simplest version of the story — that you will be able to order an Optimus in December — but it does not close every possible reading of what a waitlist might look like. Until Tesla itself says something, the December plan remains a claim from one named source, disputed by the company’s chief executive.
What we actually know about Optimus today
Strip away the reservation rumour and the picture is clearer on the factory floor than it is on the sales calendar. Tesla has started making Optimus robots, but Musk has been unusually frank about how slow and difficult the ramp will be.
On Tesla’s third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday 21 October, Musk told investors that the company had started what he called early production on its high-volume line in Fremont. “The growth of Optimus, it’s an S-curve, but the initial part of the S-curve has a shallow slope and is somewhat bumpy because it is such a radically new product,” he said. He added that there were “like 10,000 things that have to go right for production of the robot, and it will move as fast as the slowest least likely of the 10,000.”
The scale of the ambition is striking. Musk said Tesla already had the vast majority of a production line capable of one million units a year in place at Fremont. But he said it would probably take “at least a year, maybe a little longer” to reach an annualised rate of 20,000 robots a week. Tesla’s third-quarter update said production-quality Optimus robots had started coming off the high-volume lines in Fremont, and that the current manufacturing process was suitable for a commercial product even as the hardware keeps changing.
The robot still has problems to solve before it can be sold. On the earnings call, Musk listed them plainly: the artificial intelligence, the electromechanical design, and the reliability and duration of the robot — how long it keeps working before it wears out. “I do expect these issues to be solved around the end of next year,” he said. “So that’s the time to expect when we’re delivering Optimus to companies outside of Tesla.”
That puts the first deliveries to outside companies around the end of 2027, roughly a year after any December reservation would have opened. Musk has also said Tesla needs to build between 10,000 and 20,000 robots so they can gather training data while they practise tasks. The next big hardware step is the AI5 chip, which Musk said would be integrated into Optimus robots around April 2027 and would provide roughly ten times more computing power.
None of this is a secret. Musk has repeatedly warned that the early part of the production ramp would be slow. In January, he announced plans to end production of the Model S and Model X at Fremont and convert those sections of the factory to robot manufacturing, and Tesla’s chief financial officer, Vaibhav Taneja, said on the October call that the company was also building a larger Optimus factory in Austin, Texas. On the call, Musk stressed that a robot has to be safe, reliable and long-lasting before it can be sold: “It can’t, like, wear out after a month.”
The December summit still matters
Even with Musk’s denial, the Humanoids Summit on 1 and 2 December is now the date to watch. Tesla is confirmed as a partner of the event, and Optimus will be there. Earlier on 30 October, the summit said on X that it was 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.
That makes the summit the most likely stage for any announcement Tesla does choose to make. If the company wants to show off the V3 robot and gauge demand from industrial buyers, a room full of robotics investors and executives in San Mateo is the place to do it. But a demonstration is not a sale. Tesla has shown Optimus at events before without opening an order book, and Musk’s “No” suggests it is in no hurry to change that. Other humanoid makers face the same test: a public timetable is easy to promise and hard to keep, and the company that can actually manufacture humanoids at volume, safely and reliably, will set the terms for the whole industry.
Why a reservation is not a robot
There is a reason experienced Tesla watchers treated the December report with caution even before Musk replied. Tesla has a long history of taking reservations years before delivering a product — and sometimes never delivering it at all.
The most obvious example is the Roadster. Tesla has taken reservations for its next-generation Roadster sports car for a decade without delivering one. The company unveiled a new version of the Roadster as recently as 15 October, but there is still no delivery date. A reservation, in Tesla’s world, can be a very long promise.
The pattern is not unique to Tesla. Rival humanoid maker 1X has taken reservations for a humanoid robot priced at $20,000 without shipping any. Across the industry, a waitlist is a cheap way to measure demand before a product is ready. It tells you people are interested. It does not tell you the product works.
That is the context in which to read the $20,000-plus price in the Standard’s report. It was the newspaper’s own estimate, not a price announced by Tesla. Tesla has not released a price for Optimus at all. It has not said how many robots would be available to consumers, or what a deposit would be, or when a buyer could expect delivery. Until it does, any figure attached to Optimus is a guess — including the ones in the report that started this whole story.
The business case, however, is real. Musk has said Optimus and the Cybercab will make up most of Tesla’s value, and he told investors on the October call that he remained convinced Optimus “will be the biggest product on Earth”. Tesla reported $28.0 billion in revenue in the third quarter, flat compared with a year earlier, and delivered 486,532 vehicles. Cars are still the business today. Robots are the bet on tomorrow.
What this means if you want one
For anyone hoping to buy an Optimus, the honest answer is that there is nothing to buy yet — and nothing to join yet either.
First, do not pay anyone claiming to sell you an Optimus reservation. Tesla has announced no reservation window, no deposit and no price, and there is no official order page. Any website, social media account or third party offering to secure you a robot in exchange for money is not selling you anything Tesla has authorised.
Second, watch Tesla’s own channels, not the rumour cycle. If reservations do open, Tesla will announce them itself, with a price, a deposit and a delivery window. The company’s investor relations page and its official X account are the places that will carry it first.
Third, keep the December summit in mind, but treat it as a demonstration, not a sale. Optimus will be on show in San Mateo on 1 and 2 December, and Tesla may use the moment to say more about its plans. But showing a robot and selling a robot are different things, and Musk’s own timetable says outside companies will not receive robots until around the end of 2027. Consumers will come after that.
Fourth, remember who gets served first. Everything Tesla has said points to companies before consumers: warehouses, factories, packing and sorting facilities. The first robots will go to businesses that can put them to work in controlled environments, doing repetitive tasks. Household work — varied rooms, stairs, children, pets, fragile objects — is far harder for a robot than a fixed station on a factory floor.
Finally, judge the robot by the production numbers, not the headlines. The figures that matter are how many robots Fremont is actually producing each week, how long they last in service, and whether the AI can handle open-ended tasks. Musk’s target of 20,000 a week is roughly a year away. Until Tesla starts publishing real production figures, the story is potential, not product.
Frequently asked questions
Will Tesla open Optimus orders in December 2026?
Not according to Elon Musk. The San Francisco Standard reported on 30 October that reservations would open in early December, but Musk replied “No” on X the same day when asked whether Optimus ordering was coming in December. Tesla has announced no reservation date, deposit or price.
How much will an Optimus robot cost?
Tesla has not announced a price. The San Francisco Standard estimated more than $20,000, but that was the newspaper’s own expectation, not a figure from Tesla. Rival humanoid maker 1X has taken reservations for a robot at $20,000, which gives a rough sense of where the market sits, but it is not Tesla’s price.
When will Optimus actually be delivered to customers?
Musk has said deliveries to companies outside Tesla should begin around the end of 2027, once the remaining problems with the robot’s AI, electromechanical design and reliability are solved. Consumers are expected to come after business customers, so a home robot is further away still.
What is Optimus V3?
Optimus V3 is the newest version of Tesla’s humanoid robot, and the version the Standard’s report said would make up the first shipment. Earlier versions of Optimus were primarily prototypes. Tesla has not yet publicly shown the V3 in full, and a demonstration is expected at the Humanoids Summit in December.
Can I buy an Optimus robot for my home?
Not yet. There is no order page, no reservation list and no price. Tesla’s focus is on commercial uses first — warehouses, factories and packing facilities — because those are controlled environments where a robot can repeat the same task. Household work is more varied and more difficult, so home sales are further off.
Why does the Humanoids Summit matter?
The summit, on 1–2 December in San Mateo, California, is a robotics industry conference where Tesla is a partner and Optimus will be demonstrated. It was the event the December reservation report was tied to, and it is the most likely stage for any future announcement from Tesla — though a demonstration is not the same as a sale.
Conclusion
A one-word reply ended the week’s most exciting Tesla rumour. Reservations for Optimus will not open in December, at least not in the way the report described, and Musk has given no other date. What remains is the slower, harder story underneath: a robot in early production in Fremont, a factory being rebuilt around it, a target of 20,000 robots a week roughly a year away, and first deliveries to outside companies around the end of 2027. That timetable is less exciting than a December order page, but it is the one Tesla has set.
This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.
Sources
- https://tsnmedia.org/tesla-optimus-reservations-report/ (TSN Media, 31 Oct 2026 — reporting on The San Francisco Standard’s 30 Oct 2026 story)
- https://driveteslacanada.ca/news/musk-denies-reports-that-optimus-orders-will-go-live-in-december/ (Drive Tesla Canada, 31 Oct 2026)
- https://humanoid.guide/musk-disputes-report-of-december-tesla-optimus-reservations/ (humanoid.guide, 31 Oct 2026)
- https://teslanorth.com/2026/10/30/elon-optimus-orders-december/ (Tesla North, 30 Oct 2026)
- https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/10/22/tesla-tsla-q3-2026-earnings-call-transcript/ (The Motley Fool, Tesla Q3 2026 earnings call transcript, 22 Oct 2026)
