Overview

• Peter Hinterdobler filed a civil suit in Alameda County Superior Court alleging an Optimus unit activated without warning during a February 2025 late-night maintenance shift.
• The complaint states the robot pinned him under roughly 8,000 pounds of counterbalance weight and clamped its arm on his shoulder before co-workers deactivated the machine.
• The plaintiff reports shoulder, neck, and back injuries along with psychological trauma and accuses Tesla of negligence in developing, operating, and maintaining the robot.
• He seeks about $51 million in compensation plus punitive damages for what his attorney describes as willful and reckless disregard for worker safety.
• Hours after reports of the suit, Tesla promoted Optimus on the Tron: Ares Los Angeles red carpet in a choreographed face-off with Jared Leto as part of a Disney, xAI, and X collaboration.