Tesla wants its humanoid robot to plug in its driverless cars. In an interview with Munro Live, Tesla's Lars Moravy and Cybercab program lead Eric Earley said today's charging is still manual, and added: "Hopefully, Optimus will help us with that shortly," Not a Tesla App reported.
How charging works today
- Employees plug the cars in by hand. A recent video from an Austin Supercharger shows a worker connecting Robotaxis.
- The Cybercab has no AC charging. It keeps a NACS port in the rear bumper for Supercharger (DC) charging.
- Tesla received FCC approval earlier this year for the Cybercab's wireless charging.
The Austin hub
EVwire reported in August that Tesla's St. Elmo site at 405 E. St. Elmo Road in Austin has 48 V4 Supercharger stalls powered by 12 V3.5 cabinets. City filings for "ST ELMO PARKING AND CHARGING" (TRT #20447, architect ArcVision) describe a "robocar carwash and charging parking lot." A second phase adds two V4 cabinets powering 80 wireless chargers.
More than charging
In the interview, Optimus was also described as a robot that "might service the car" and "might add in the delivery space," with the Robotaxi team calling that combination "incredible." Tesla gave no date for Optimus working at a charging hub. For the factory side of the same interview, see Cybercab output outpacing deployments.