Tesla's Robots Were Just Remotely Controlled Dummies, Analyst Confirms

The bots at the robotaxi event "relied on tele-ops (human intervention)."

Smoke and Mirrors

Tesla's "We, Robot" event last week failed to impress investors, with shares of the EV maker dropping precipitously on Friday morning.

The company put on a glitzy show on a Hollywood movie studio lot, an appropriate venue given that most of what Tesla showed off was a mere hint of what the future could one day look like — not the current state of technology.

Case in point: An army of extremely "I, Robot"-like Optimus humanoid robots could be seen pouring drinks and conversing with eventgoers.

But despite Tesla CEO Elon Musk making a big deal out of artificial intelligence at the event, the robots were teleoperated by humans, a smoke-and-mirrors tech demo that had investors shaking their heads, and raising plenty of questions over Tesla's ability to bring the tech to the masses.

Walkie-Talkie

In a note, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote that the bots "relied on tele-ops (human intervention)." Sources also told Bloomberg that the Optimus robots were reportedly using AI to walk, but relied on assistance from a nearby human to chat.

During the event, Musk promised that Optimus "can be a teacher, babysit your kids, it can walk your dog, mow your lawn, get the groceries, just be your friend, serve drinks. Whatever you can think of, it will do."

But given the fact that it still relies on a human for assistance, such a future is likely still many years out — if it ever materializes.

A video that circulated on social media following the event showed an Optimus robot skillfully holding down a conversation.

"What's the hardest thing about being a robot?" it was asked. "Uhh… trying to… learn to be as human as you guys," the robot replied.

Investors were also unimpressed by the company's "robotaxi" vehicle called the Cybercab, an avant-garde, two-seater take on the kind of vehicles the likes of Waymo have been using as part of their autonomous ride-hailing service for years.

In short, despite still being worth more than the world's top automakers combined, Tesla has far more to prove than ever before. And that's in large part thanks to Musk's penchant for making wildly disproportionate and overly ambitious claims.

CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson described the event as "watching a movie with a lot of plot twists and special effects, and at the end, you're walking out scratching your head."

We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

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