The stunning debut of the Roadster drew congratulations from Musk's old rival Altman, who responded calmly.

On October 17, Tesla's next-generation Roadster officially made its debut the previous day. During the demonstration, the vehicle, relying on SpaceX cold-gas thruster technology and an underbody suction system, completed a series of stunts including driving upside down up a slope, mid-air flips, and jumping over cars, with a 0-60 mph acceleration time of under 1 second, drawing widespread attention. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman subsequently posted on X to offer congratulations, saying "The new Roadster looks pretty stunning, nice work Musk." Given that the two have long been publicly known rivals, the community was rather surprised by Altman's remarks. Musk did not respond with direct enthusiasm, but instead replied "Indeed" in the relevant discussion thread to teasing comments such as whether he had canceled a previously canceled order, in a restrained and slightly mocking tone. The two have prior public history regarding the Roadster: in late 2025, Altman posted that he had reserved the car nearly 7.5 years earlier and it still had not been delivered, demanding a refund of the roughly $50,000 deposit and sharing related emails; Musk responded that the refund had in fact been processed quickly, while again raising OpenAI-related controversies. This congratulation and calm response have reignited speculation about the relationship between the two, but the core conflict has not been resolved as a result.