Tesla's Optimus will plug in Robotaxis at Superchargers, executives say

Tesla executives say Optimus humanoids will plug in driverless Robotaxis at Superchargers, a stopgap until wireless charging arrives.

Tesla's driverless Robotaxis can drive themselves to a Supercharger, but they cannot plug themselves in yet. In a new Munro Live deep dive into the Cybercab, Tesla's vice president of vehicle engineering Lars Moravy and Cybercab lead Eric Earley said Optimus humanoids will take on that job. "Hopefully, Optimus will help us with that shortly," they said. It is the first time Tesla has placed Optimus inside the Robotaxi workflow.

For now, people do the plugging. A recent video from an Austin Supercharger showed a Tesla employee connecting Cybercabs and Model Y robotaxis as they arrived, and repositioning cars that had stopped too far from the stall. The Cybercab keeps a concealed NACS charge port in its rear bumper because the fleet still depends on the existing Supercharger network, and the car carries no onboard AC charger, so it cannot use ordinary Level 2 charging.

Optimus is a bridge, not the destination. Tesla has FCC approval for wireless Cybercab charging from earlier this year and plans an Austin Robotaxi hub with 80 wireless chargers. Once that infrastructure is ready, neither a person nor a robot will need to handle the cable. Executives also floated wider fleet roles for Optimus, saying it might service cars and help with deliveries.

Timing tempers the excitement. Tesla only recently started early Optimus production at Fremont, with first deliveries to corporate customers planned for 2027, so robots showing up at Superchargers is a near-term plan rather than an operating reality, and wireless charging may still take longer than next year to arrive at scale. The detail matters because it shows how Tesla sees Optimus: not only as a factory worker, but as the missing hands for its driverless fleet.