A six-second clip of a Tesla Optimus robot's "suspicious tumble" emerged on Reddit, Electrek reported, reviving skepticism about the electric vehicle manufacturer's autonomous technology.
What's happening?
In recent months, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been laser-focused on the company's artificial intelligence and robotics endeavors. Musk has asserted that "AI and robotics" were the only things that can save the United States from financial doom, and that those technologies would make money obsolete.
On Saturday and Sunday, Tesla hosted an "Autonomy Visualized" event at a dealership in Miami, and a user on Reddit's r/TeslaMotors shared a brief clip of Optimus' reverse face-plant.
In the six-second video, Optimus was seen knocking over a few plastic water bottles before toppling over backward. However, the robot's unmistakably human gesture served as a "Wizard-of-Oz"-like reveal of the man behind the curtain. (Click here if the embedded video does not appear.)
"Looks like the operator took off their VR headset," a user observed, which was the general consensus on a different Reddit thread shared two days later.
"That's exactly what happened," another user replied, with another possibility that a teleoperator simply noticed they had knocked over some bottles and threw up their arms in dismay, unintentionally causing the robot to lose its balance.
One Reddit comment depicting a GIF of a "Robocop 2" scene in which a malfunctioning Robocop prototype makes a similar gesture to lift off its helmet racked up over 17,000 likes. Electrek commenters were equally unimpressed.
"Tesla couldn't even get their robot to serve popcorn at their new restaurant," one wrote. "Everything Tesla does with robots seems to be a disappointing disaster."
Why is this concerning?
Anyone who follows Tesla developments is deeply familiar with Musk's tendency to wildly underestimate timelines.
In 2019, he famously predicted that 1 million driverless Tesla Robotaxis would be criss-crossing American roads in 2020.
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When they finally debuted on a small scale in June, it was obvious to riders that human operators were involved — yet Robotaxi crashes also occurred at a surprising rate.
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Absolutely 💯 Tesla's Optimus was first unveiled in 2022, but coverage of its purported capabilities often focused on the obvious human intervention. If Optimus were Tesla's sole focus, its level of autonomy would be less of a concern.
However, Musk has long prioritized autonomous EVs over other advancements. He recently promised that Tesla drivers could soon "text and drive" safely, forcing law enforcement agencies to reiterate that the activity remains illegal.
Amid plans to release an autonomous model called the Cybercab without seeking the necessary regulatory approvals, Tesla's struggles to make autonomous driving a reality can undermine consumer trust and discourage drivers from making their next car an EV.
For better or worse, Tesla remains the most prominent EV manufacturer; if a perception that the brand is unsafe persists, fewer EVs on the road and more tailpipe pollution could result.
What's being done about it?
After a challenging 2025 and Tesla's Optimus-related missteps, the brand is leaning heavily on the Cybercab's debut to turn things around.
This month, Musk said Tesla's Robotaxi fleet would double in size before the year was out, but questions about its level of autonomy lingered.
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