Tesla is planning to deploy its Optimus humanoid robot to plug and unplug charging cables for its Robotaxi fleet, a transitional step before the company rolls out wireless charging, according to a report from Chinese automotive outlet PCauto. The information comes from comments by Tesla executives in an interview with Munro Live.
The Robotaxi vehicles can already drive themselves to Tesla's Supercharger stations, but the charging process still requires human workers to manually insert the cable, and sometimes adjust the car's position if it is not parked correctly. The Cybercab, Tesla's purpose-built Robotaxi, retains a hidden NACS charging port to reuse the existing Supercharger network, avoiding the need to build new infrastructure from scratch.
Under the plan, Optimus would take over the repetitive task of plugging in the charging cable, filling the gap until fully automatic wireless charging is ready. Tesla's vice president of vehicle engineering, Lars Moravy, and Cybercab project lead Eric Earley said in the interview that they hope Optimus can take on this task as soon as possible. However, this is not the final form; wireless charging is the long-term solution for the Robotaxi operation system.
Wireless charging infrastructure
On the infrastructure side, Tesla has already received approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the Cybercab's wireless charging solution. The company plans to build a dedicated Robotaxi charging hub in Austin, Texas, with 80 wireless charging units. Once the wireless charging facilities are mature and operational, neither humans nor Optimus robots will need to be involved in the plugging process.
In terms of progress, Optimus has just begun early production at Tesla's Fremont factory, with first deliveries to enterprise customers expected in 2027, so it will be some time before the robots are widely deployed. Wireless charging also requires validation of supporting stations, power levels, and costs, making it difficult to roll out on a large scale in the short term.
