Malia Mendez | (TNS) Los Angeles Times
Tesla’s Robovan may operate autonomously, but according to one sci-fi director, Elon Musk doesn’t.
Last week Musk presented Tesla’s latest prototypes for its autonomous electric bus, the self-driving Cybercab and robotic humanoid Optimus, aka Tesla bot. But the automotive executive’s purported state-of-the-art designs bear a striking resemblance to those from a sci-fi film released two decades ago.
“I, Robot” director Alex Proyas mocked Musk for the alleged rip-off in a Sunday X post, comparing images from his 2004 film and a trio of new Tesla products side by side. The products were unveiled at last week’s “We, Robot” event — whose title clearly alludes to the Isaac Asimov short story collection on which Proyas’ film is based.
“Hey Elon, Can I have my designs back please?” Proyas wrote, to mixed reception.
“Elon has no ideas of his own … and no leadership ability,” one user replied.
“Be happy that somebody will actually have a decent shot at putting this into production. We all know that you wouldn’t,” another countered.
Representatives for Proyas and Musk did not reply immediately to The Times’ request for comment Monday.
